Legal Opinion on the admissibility under Union law of the European Council’s plan to treat Turkey like a »safe third state«

Whe­ther or not to tre­at Tur­key as a ‘safe third coun­try’ has been a mat­ter of much dis­cus­sion in the EU. Tur­key is play­ing a cen­tral role in the strugg­le to find a solu­ti­on to the cri­sis of Euro­pean refu­gee law. Poli­ti­cal mea­su­res must respect appli­ca­ble Uni­on law. For this reason, the fol­lo­wing paper com­mis­sio­ned by Pro Asyl will exami­ne whe­ther appli­ca­ble Uni­on law allows Euro­pean Uni­on Mem­ber Sta­tes to tre­at Tur­key as a ‘safe third coun­try’. If this is not the case, asyl­um see­kers can­not be retur­ned from Greece to Tur­key or taken back to Tur­key after inter­cep­ti­on at sea.