EU-Turkey deal must comply with EU and International law

EU-Turkey deal must comply with EU and International law

Sergei Stanishev, PES President said:

“The human rights of refugees trying to reach safety in Europe must be respected. Both in the EU and in Turkey. We must make sure that the EU-Turkey ‘deal’, and the process of sending irregular migrants back to Turkey which will follow, in no way call into question their rights or security, and is compliant with EU and international law. Each person fleeing war and persecution and seeking asylum has their own reason for doing so and each case should be treated individually.

At the same time European values should not be compromised and the Socialists and Democrats are doing their best to ensure peace and prosperity throughout Europe.

Greece is at the very front line of this crisis. An issue of such immense scale cannot possibly be dealt with by one country. We stand in solidarity with Greece and call for Member States to show humanity, and share the responsibility to deal with the refugee crisis.”

In this context the PES Prime Ministers were joined today by the Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras and the Leader of PASOK Fofi Gennimata.

Sergei Stanishev, added:

“While we progressives have long been open to advancing talks on Turkish accession to the EU, we do not believe it should become entangled in the refugee crisis. We want to progress with talks on Turkish accession, in line with our values and ensuring the respect of media freedom, human rights, an independent judiciary and other criteria which all countries wishing to join the EU must meet.”

The meeting was attended by:

 

Sergei Stanishev PES President

François Hollande, President, France    

Matteo Renzi, Prime Minister, Italy        

Werner Faymann, Chancellor, Austria

Stefan Lofven, Prime Minister, Sweden

Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister, Malta 

Antonio Costa, Prime Minister Portugal

Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister, Czech Republic

Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister Greece (observer)   

Jean Asselborn, Europe Minister, Luxembourg

Diederik Samsom, Leader PvdA, Netherlands

Fofi Gennimata, Leader, PASOK Greece

Liviu Dragnea, Leader PSD, Romania

Pedro Sanchez, Leader PSOE, Spain                        

Frans Timmermans, First Vice President, EU Commission                            

Federica Mogherini, High Representative, EU Commission         

Maros Sefcovic, EU Commission

Pierre Moscovici, EU Commission

Corina Cretu, EU Commission

Gianni Pittella, President, S&D Group

Martin Schulz, President, European Parliament