The EU-Turkey Deal and Its Implications for the Asylum Capacities of EU Border Countries

Abstract:

The Istituto Affari Internazionali, in collaboration with the Istanbul Policy Center (IPC) and Stiftung Mercator, launched the Global Turkey in Europe (GTE) project in 2012 in order to establish a platform to discuss and analyse the rapid transformation of Turkey in a European and global context. In its fourth edition, the project focuses on the refugee crisis and its impact on EU-Turkey relations.

Under the project, the first of a series of workshops on the issue took place in Istanbul in July 2016. The second workshop was hosted in Athens. Participants here discussed the implications of the EU-Turkey deal for the asylum capacities of EU border countries, with a special focus on Greece. The programme included a field trip at an official reception facility in Athens, and a workshop organized in cooperation with the Mercator European Dialogue (MED): this created a unique opportunity for the GTE participants to connect and share views with national parliamentarians across member states.