Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

There have been many low points for the European Union over the past few years, including the campaign of terror unleashed against the Greek people for daring to stand up to the troika's austerity, the fiscal treaty outlawing any policies other than Thatcherism, and the silent coups led by the European Central Bank against the Greek and Italian Governments, but regardless of how low the Taoiseach and the other European leaders have previously gone, they have now managed to go lower with this agreement with Turkey. To be blunt, it is an agreement to breach the basic human rights of some of the most vulnerable people in the world, namely, those fleeing Syria. It is an agreement for the mass expulsion of refugees from Greece and an agreement to outsource keeping refugees out of Europe to an authoritarian regime with a record of ongoing and systematic abuse of human rights. It is an agreement to turn Turkey and, apparently, a supposedly safe area of Syria into a prison camp for those fleeing war in the Middle East.

I am sure that most of the leaders of the European Union look down their noses at the right-wing, anti-migrant populism of Donald Trump. I am sure they laugh at the idea of him saying that he will force Mexico to pay for the construction of a wall to keep migrants out, but they are no better than him. This agreement is the equivalent of paying Mexico to build a wall to keep migrants out. The European Union is agreeing to turn Turkey into a wall to keep migrants out to protect fortress Europe. The agreement is so bad that it breaches the European Union's own rules. Collective expulsions are prohibited under the European Convention on Human Rights. The first sentence of the first point of the agreement states that all new irregular migrants crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands as and from 20 March 2016 will be returned to Turkey. In what world is that not a collective expulsion? The second sentence states that this will take place in full compliance with EU and international law, thus excluding any kind of collective expulsion. It belongs in 1984. "War is peace; freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength." Collective expulsion is not collective expulsion because we say it is not collective expulsion. It is the equivalent of Richard Nixon saying to David Frost, "When the president does it, that means it is not illegal."

In order to meet this legal fiction, one has to declare that Turkey is a safe third country. In what planet is Turkey a safe third country? It is not a safe country for its own citizens, so how can it be a safe country for Kurdish people fleeing Syria whenever it is engaged in a war against its own people - Kurdish people - within the Turkish borders, or for those who criticise it in the media and those who stand up to it? It imprisons such people. Turkey has a horrific human rights record. It is a country that is currently guilty of returning refugees to Iraq and Syria, a country guilty of not giving refugee status to those who are fleeing Syria. This is the country to which EU border control is being handed. People will have seen the videos of Turkish coast guards deliberately trying to capsize boats of refugees attempting to reach Europe. Blood will be on the hands of EU leaders, as it currently is, if they proceed with this.

The Greek borders are to be policed by an additional 4,000 people from Frontex. The Taoiseach, echoed by other EU leaders, has said that, critically, this should stop people getting into unsafe boats and risking their lives. People are not risking their lives for a laugh; they are fleeing war, poverty and oppression, and they will not stop. What is being done will result in more people being killed. Some 85% of migrants in Greece are from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and other countries in which there is Western intervention. Defend the right to asylum; end fortress Europe and allow people to come here.

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