March 21st, 2016
Commentators fear that the deal struck at the European summit with Turkey will be hard to implement in practice and might provoke risky consequences.
In Népszabadság, András Dési terms the decision to ’outsource’ migration management to Turkey controversial. He finds it difficult to imagine how tens of thousands of people can be deported back from Greece to Turkey against their will. The promise to abolish the entry visa system between Turkey and the Union seems to him ’a more than delicate’ option, all the more so since it triggered an immediate protest on the part of Ms Merkel’s Bavarian Christian Social allies. Nor does he see where the thousands of migration experts needed to vet the migrants to be screened in Greece will come from. He strongly advises the Hungarian government to send some nevertheless, in order to reduce tension in its relations with Greece.
On Válasz, Barna Borbás voices similar doubts about the agreement and Chancellor Merkel’s hope that it will solve the migration crisis. First of all, it will be difficult to establish who is who, since fake Syrian passports are on sale in Turkey on an industrial scale. Secondly, in exchange for the promise to take back illegal migrants, the European Union is promising to accelerate talks on Turkey’s accession at a time when civil liberties are being regularly disregarded by Turkish authorities. Europe has manoeuvred itself into a weak bargaining position and Turkey may feel free not to conform with European expectations and come forward with ever newer demands, Borbás concludes.
Tags: EU, migration, Turkey
