Is the EU-Turkey refugee and migration deal a treaty?

In the European Parliament, questions have been asked about the legal nature of the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016, pursuant to which Greece had started to return asylum seekers to Turkey from the 4 April 2016.

Apparently, the EU’s procedure for negotiating and concluding treaties with third countries, laid down in in Art. 218 TFEU, has not been followed. The European Parliament wanted to know whether the Council nonetheless considers the Statement to be a treaty, and, if not, whether Turkey has been informed about the non-binding nature.

This blog analyses the issues and implications of this. The authors conclude that the European Parliament is right in asking critical questions about the Council not following the rules for concluding a treaty.

They say 'That the institutional role of the EP has been neglected confirms the worrying trend that intergovernmental decision-making is taking over in the Union, and that national interests increasingly often prevail over the common values of the Union. This is bad for European democracy'.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: European Council, Brussels, 17 - 18 March 2016 http://www.europeansources.info/record/european-council-brussels-17-18-march-2016/

ESO: Information Guide: European Migration Challenges http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-european-migration-challenges/

ESO: Background information: EU−Turkey Refugee Deal Is Vulnerable to Legal Challenge http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu%e2%88%92turkey-refugee-deal-is-vulnerable-to-legal-challenge/

ESO: Background information: The draft EU/Turkey deal on migration and refugees: is it legal? / The final EU/Turkey refugee deal: a legal assessment http://www.europeansources.info/record/the-draft-eu-turkey-deal-on-migration-and-refugees-is-it-legal-the-final-eu-turkey-refugee-deal-a-legal-assessment/

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