NEWS

European Parliament endorses migrant pact with Turkey

The European Parliament on Wednesday endorsed a deal that has been long in the making between the European Union and Ankara according to which Turkey will take back undocumented immigrants that use it as a transit country to enter the EU, often via Greece.

Negotiations on the re-admission agreement began in 2002 but were only sealed in December when Ankara’s demand for visa requirements to be lifted for Turkish citizens traveling to the EU was taken into account.

The deal’s endorsement by the Strasbourg-based court is likely to help curb irregular immigration into the EU as long as Turkish authorities honor their side agreement, according to Renate Sommer, a German conservative MP who was rapporteur for the motion. “We will see whether Turkey will readmit people that illegally immigrated into the EU to its territory,” she said.

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