EU-Turkey meeting - Final press conference by Donald Tusk, Ahmet Davutoğlu and Jean-Claude Juncker

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• published: 10 Mar 2016
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EN - Meeting of the EU heads of state or government with Turkey / Meeting of the members of the European Council: press conference by Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, Ahmet Davutoğlu, Prime Minister of Turkey, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission - FULL ORIGINAL version - 08.03.2016 at 01:11 am - European Council, Brussels. SHORT EXTRACTS FROM THE TRANSCRIPT - Donald Tusk, President of the European Council: "The days of irregular migration to Europe are over. Furthermore, we welcomed new, bold proposals made today by Turkey to address this crisis. We agreed to work on the basis of the following principles: the return of all new irregular migrants crossing from Turkey into the Greek islands; the acceleration of the implementation of the visa liberalisation roadmap; the speeding up the disbursement of the €3bln and additional funding for the Refugee Facility for Syrians; the preparation for the opening of new chapters in the accession negotiations; the possibility of establishing in Syria areas which will be more safe and finally to resettle Syrian refugees on a one-for-one basis. (...) We also discussed with Prime Minister Davutoğlu the situation of the media in Turkey. We all know how important the freedom of speech and expression are, these are fundamental human rights. Without them, there cannot be any healthy development of any culture, of any society. I am saying all this because we cannot stay indifferent to the concerns raised in this context about what is now happening in Turkey. (...) Greece will not be left alone. (...)" Ahmet Davutoğlu, Prime Minister of Turkey: "I'm happy that we agreed that visa liberalisation will be implemented latest by the end of June during Dutch Presidency. We will do our job in Turkey to finish, to find all the legislative requirements and EU side will do their part and we hope that latest by the end of June, Turkish citizens will be able to come to Schengen area without visa. (...) This a humanitarian process helping refugees but at the same time this is a strategic issue for us as Turkey that Turkey will be integrated to EU and Turkey-EU relations will create a new momentum in international field because this Syrian issue showed us very clearly that there is a need of a much more sophisticated integrated strategy between Turkey and EU. Because of this we want 5 new chapters which were declared by President Juncker after 29th of November summit to be opened as early as possible so that Turkish accession process will be accelerated. (...)" Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the EC: "We have reached an agreement in principle with the Prime Minister that Turkey will readmit quickly all irregular migrants who do not qualify for international protection who arrived in Greece; Turkey will thus de facto anticipate the entry into force of the EU-Turkey readmission agreement. We also agreed that Turkey will readmit Syrian nationals returned from the Greek islands under the logic that they can apply for asylum in Turley and under the understanding that for every Syrian readmitted, one will be resettled to the EU directly from Turkey. (...) By doing what we are intending to do, we will break the business model of smugglers exploiting human misery and make clear that the only viable way to come to Europe is through legal channels; there will be no longer an incentive for Syrians to pay criminals to smuggle them across the Aegean. Doing so will not only lend you back in Turkey but will put you in the bottom of the list for resettlement. Resettlement directly for turkey is precisely the objective of our work for months. (...) To ensure that Syrian refugees can benefit from decent conditions in Turkey, the newly created facility for refugees in Turkey is already starting to finance the first projects. The Commission has unlocked 95 million to help provide access to education for Syrian children in Turkey and provide for food. The initial 3 billion put into the fund will need to be supplemented after 2018. (...) Greece needs our solidarity more than ever in order to attack humanitarian crisis, I'm making reference to the humanitarian package the Commission adopted a few ago, 700 million for Greece. It is clear that we have to accelerate relocation, relocation is a matter of solidarity or responsibility sharing between European partners; this is the moment for relocation to be fully operational, it is more important than ever. (...)" Q&A; with the Press - Alix Rijckaert/AFP to the Presidents "Isn't there a risk that this mechanism will be quickly turned on by European Courts?" and to Turkish PM : "Have you discussed the situation of the freedom of press in Turkey with your counterparts, and what do you think of the way they see the problem of for instance Zaman Newspaper today?" Guldener Sonumut from NTV Turkey © Frédérick Moulin 2016 - EU2016 - European Council - All rights reserved.