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> Politics

Reuters: EU asks Greece and Cyprus to make concessions to Turkey

Commission paper will propose that opening of five new "chapters" in Turkey's negotiations to join the EU would be "conditional"

Newsroom March 15 10:17

The European Union asks Greece and Cyprus to offer concessions to Turkey hoping to seal a deal on sending back migrants, according to EU new proposal.

The proposal to be presented on Wednesday provides that the Commission paper will propose that opening of five new “chapters” in Turkey’s negotiations to join the EU would be “conditional”, an official involved in drafting the paper told Reuters said.

According to Reuters, this will be done in order to address any threat by Cyprus to block parts of the deal unless Turkey stops opposing the reunification of the divided island.

Moreover, even though that human rights groups and some governments have concerns about the legality of returning refugees en masse to Turkey, the Commission will ask Greece to declare Turkey a “safe third country”.

As Reuters pointed out, this would allow speedier returns, as Athens would be able to send people back even before the end of an appeal procedure for rejected asylum applications.

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The Greek authorities will however continue to process asylum applications case-by-case for all arriving migrants, as international rules decree.

According to the preliminary deal, for every migrant returned to Turkey, one refugee would be resettled directly from Turkey to Europe.

In the meantime, the European Union wants to grant Turkish citizens visa-free access if Turkey meets a “critical mass” of legal conditions. However, France opposes to that and asks Ankara to meet 72 requirements before its nearly 80 million citizens can travel to the 28-nation EU without visas.

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