The problems of the EU-Turkey deal on returning migrants

The deal between the EU and Turkey, struck on Friday, has been criticised by aid agencies as inhumane. The UN’s refugee agency said big questions remained about how the deal would work in practice and called for urgent improvements to Greece’s system for assessing refugees.
Thousands of refugees who arrived in Greece before the deadline will be resettled in Europe, although they cannot choose where. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, urged refugees at Idomeni to move to other accommodation being offered by the Greek authorities. Some 14,000 people are waiting at the border village in the hope of travelling north.

In the hours before the plan came into force, hundreds of people were rescued by Italian and Libyan officials amid an increase in traffic through the Strait of Sicily.
And in Turkey, at least 200 people were caught in a coastal town and turned back as they tried to reach Greece ahead of the deadline, authorities said.

Migrants keen to go to Germany
Human rights groups have strongly criticised the deal, with Amnesty International accusing the EU of turning “its back on a global refugee crisis”.
Most of the migrants arriving in Europe are keen to go to Germany and other northern countries, which have seen increasing public discontent with the high influx.
“I want to take the opportunity to tell the refugees at Idomeni that they should trust the Greek government and move to other accommodation where the conditions will be significantly better,” Merkel said. She added that “from there, Greece will put asylum procedures in motion or redistribution to other European countries will take place”.
In exchange for taking in refugees, Turkey can expect “re-energised” talks on its EU membership, with the promise of negotiations on one policy area to be opened before July. Although this is a climbdown by Turkey, after Cyprus blocked a more ambitious restart of accession talks, Davutoğlu said it was “a historic day” for EU-Turkey relations.
But the head of the UN high commissioner for human rights in Europe raised concerns that safeguards intended to protect vulnerable asylum seekers would not be in place in time.
People claiming asylum needed access to interpreters and the right of appeal, he said, vital elements of a functioning asylum system that Greece has struggled to put in place until now. Implementation “is a big question mark, it is a big challenge”.

The one-for-one deal
The controversial one-for-one deal remains intact: for every Syrian refugee that the EU sends back across the Aegean, a Syrian in Turkey will be given a new home in Europe. But a cap of 72,000 places has been put on Syrians who will be given asylum in Europe, far short of the 108,000 a year recommended by international aid agencies, if the EU is to do its fair share. The scheme will be stopped once more than 72,000 people have been settled in Europe, amid concerns among some countries of an “open-ended commitment”.
The deal was agreed despite lacerating criticism from Turkey’s president, who attacked Europe’s “shameful” record on refugees as the summit got underway. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was not taking part in the Brussels talks, said Europe should look at its own record on refugees before telling Turkey what to do.
Approximately 48,000 people are trapped in Greece, including 14,000 who are living in squalid conditions near the Greek-FYROM border at Idomeni, as they are barred from travelling onwards to central and northern Europe.