EU-Turkey migrant deal risks failing
European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said that the EU's deal with Turkey on halting the flow of migrants towards the bloc is at risk of breaking down, in comments published Friday.
"The risk is big. The success so far of the pact is fragile. President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan has already hinted several times that he wants to scrap it," Juncker told Austrian daily Kurier.
"(If that happens) then we can expect migrants to start coming to Europe again," he told the paper in an interview to be published on Saturday.
The March accord between the European Union and Turkey succeeded in stemming the flow of migrants but there are concerns that it could fall apart after a failed coup against Erdogan on July 15.
A subsequent purge in Turkey has seen thousands of arrests among the army, the police and judiciary, and hundreds have lost their jobs in every major Turkish ministry.
Three days after the attempt on the government, a group of Turkish officials assigned to monitor the migration deal on the Greek side returned home, and have yet to be replaced.
Turkey has detained more than 18,000 people over the attempted putsch which has been blamed on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen -- a charge he denies -- with the relentless crackdown sparking warnings from Brussels that Ankara's EU membership bid may be in danger.
Comments