EU agrees Turkey deal to block migrants from entering Europe

EU leaders finalised a deal with Turkey to cut off migrants coming to Europe illegally but many including the Taoiseach Enda Kenny admitted that it would not resolve the crisis that saw more than 1.2m people mostly fleeing war arrive last year.

Any migrant travelling the 7km from Turkey to the Greek islands from past midnight tonight will be sent back to Turkey as a key part of the EU plan to stop the trafficking of refugees.

Any that make an asylum request will have it considered after April 4 when the Greek and EU authorities reckon they should have the necessary people and judges in place to process them according to international law and with the help of the UNHCR.

Those given refugee status will be returned to UN camps in Turkey where they can make an application to come to Europe, but will be ‘at the back of the queue’ in an effort to convince people not to pay smugglers to enter illegally.

For every illegal migrant returned from the Greek islands to Turkey up to a maximum of 72,000, Turkey will send one bone fide Syrian refugee to the EU where they will be given a home.

The current estimated 20,000 migrants on the islands are to be brought to the Greek mainland before March 21, and with the other 23,000 already there, have their asylum claim processed on the mainland and will remain in the EU if they are confirmed as refugees.

Any found not to qualify — if they are economic migrants for instance — will be sent back to Turkey or directly to their home country. But EU president Donald Tusk said that every migrant arriving in Europe would be treated strictly in accordance with international asylum law.

Mr Kenny, after the two-day summit, admitted that the agreement alone would not resolve that crisis. “It will not stop people leaving Syria and it will not prevent people from wanting to come to Europe in the first place, but it should help to manage and diminish the flow of asylum seekers more effectively, also more humanely and obviously more fairly.” The EU agreed that short stay 90-day visas for Turks into the EU will be brought forward from the original date of October to June — provided Turkey fulfils the remaining 32 of the 72 conditions.

Turkey accepted that the usual arrangements for discussions on chapters outlining EU laws and standards that they must meet will open as soon as possible and by the end of June the chapter dealing with budgets, seen as an essential prerequisite to membership will be opened.

Nasc, the Irish Immigrant Support Centre, described the deal as skewed from the start and warned it could catastrophically backfire on Europe.