Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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12. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to report on the European Union-Turkey migration agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45306/15]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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On 29 November, the Taoiseach attended an EU heads of state or government meeting with Turkey, at which it was agreed to activate the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan aimed at managing the current refugee and migrant crisis, as well as several further shared commitments and actions.

The Joint Action Plan contains short- and medium-term measures to be undertaken by the European Union and Turkey. These measures will assist Turkey in providing for the refugees on its territory and to prevent uncontrolled migratory flows from Turkey to the EU. As part of this, the EU has agreed to provide a financial package worth an additional €3 billion, with the establishment of a ‘Refugee Facility for Turkey’ to coordinate and streamline actions financed by this package.

The Joint Action Plan includes, in particular, action on the visa liberalisation dialogue, the EU-Turkey readmission agreement, as well as, more generally, Turkey’s EU accession process.

Turkey, for its part, has committed to implement immediately actions to stem the flow of irregular refugees and migrants to the EU and to improve the situation of refugees and migrants under temporary protection in Turkey.

In addition, the EU has agreed to re-energise Turkey’s accession process, and I welcome the opening of Chapter 17 of the acquis communautaire, covering economic and monetary policies, on 14 December. This paves the way to explore positively the opening of other Chapters of the process.

Turkey and the EU also agreed to explore further the great potential of EU-Turkey relations and to maintain regular and enhanced dialogue through more frequent summits and high-level political meetings. Most recently, the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlüt Çavuþoðlu, participated in a working lunch with EU Foreign Ministers, which I attended, at the Foreign Affairs Council on 14 December, where we had a productive discussion on international issues, including Syria.

Ireland strongly supports the recent intensified engagement between the EU and Turkey, including the outcome of the meeting of EU Heads of State or Government with Turkey on 29 November. I welcome, in particular, the agreement to implement the EU-Turkey Joint Action Plan. The relationship between the EU and Turkey is important in the context of the migration crisis and because of Turkey’s status as an EU candidate country.

The EU’s engagement with Turkey in no way changes the core requirements of all candidate countries to achieve the benchmarks and criteria for membership of the EU. The Commission’s most recent report on Turkey, published on 10 November highlighted concerns in several fundamental areas including in the rule of law and human rights. The EU and Member States will continue our dialogue with Turkey in relation on these and other issues of concern in relation to the internal situation in Turkey.