Juncker: EU-Turkey refugee deal could require legislative change

The EU’s attempt to strike on a deal with Turkey to take back thousands of migrants and refugees from Greece may require legislation to pass the Greek and Turkish parliaments, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Juncker said the Commission is in contact with the Turkish government because Article 38 of the EU’s asylum procedures directive requires a country receiving asylum-seekers, in this case Turkey, to prove it complies with the basic requirements of the Geneva Convention. So far Turkey has recognized the Geneva Convention only for EU citizens.

“It could easily be that both in Greece and in Turkey some pieces of legislation would have to be brought through parliaments, but this has to be seen in the course of this week,” Juncker said.

An EU official said the precise changes to the legislation would be announced after a summit next week, where EU governments and Turkey hope to finalize the arrangement.

Article 38 of the directive sets out the criteria a country must meet before the EU sends asylum-seekers there under the so-called “safe third country concept.” The criteria include the possibility to request refugee status and, if found to be a refugee, to receive protection. They also include the principle of “non-refoulement” — the idea that someone cannot be returned to a country where they fear a threat to their life or freedom.

Greece announced its intention to declare Turkey a safe third country, last month.

U.N. human rights chief Filippo Grandi told the European Parliament Tuesday that he was “deeply concerned about any arrangement that would involve the blanket return of anyone from one country to another without spelling out the refugee protection safeguards under international law.”

Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European migration commissioner, told reporters Thursday that the “Geneva Convention is the gospel of our relations with all countries.”

“What we [are doing] with Turkey right now is in compliance with the European Union’s legislation and the international law,” Avramopoulos said.

European Commission spokesman Alex Winterstein told reporters earlier this week that “the details that will be hammered out between now and the March European Council [summit] will obviously be in full compliance with both European and international law.”

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