Abstract
The EU-Turkey Statement was released on March 18, via the Council of the European Union’s webpage. Immediate and intensive negotiations began in October 2015, leading to the Statement delivered on the grounds of the European Council meeting on 17-18 March 2016. This problematic and controversial statement has been consistently proclaimed by the European Council. This paper focuses on the legal flaws and implementation challenges of the EU-Turkey deal. Regarding the procedure, EU norms for negotiating with third parties are laid forth in Article 218 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It refers to collaboration between the EU and a non-EU country. I analyse the General Court orders which are the first rulings on the EU-Turkey Statement and evaluate these decisions in light of EU legal regulations and literature in law. Also, the EU-Turkey Statement violates the principle of non-refoulement, as the EU has committed to taking back one Syrian from Turkey for every Syrian that Turkey accepts from the Greek islands. The EU-Turkey deal violates the ban on collective expulsion under Article 19 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 13 of the ECHR, and Article 4 of Protocol no. 4 to the ECHR since it can result in the deportation of asylum seekers without examination of their asylum claims. This paper also assesses the statement’s compatibility with the EU Law and international human rights law.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2024 Special Focus—The World on the Move: Understanding Migration in a New Global Age
KEYWORDS
EU-TURKEY STATEMENT, EU LAW, NON-REFOULEMENT, REFUGEE LAW
