Spain’s foreign minister on Wednesday described the EU’s deal with Turkey to stem the influx of migrants as a “botched job”, blasting Europe’s “inadequate” response to its worst migration crisis since World War II.
Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said he was unhappy with leaving the solution to the crisis in the hands of a country outside the European Union, despite Madrid having backed the controversial deal with Ankara.
“This deal we have signed with Turkey, it’s a botched job,” he told the Cope radio station. “For Turkey to help us so that (refugees) do not come by sea en masse is good — before, they were risking their lives and criminal gangs... were benefiting from their misfortune,” he added.
“But that does not mean that this is not a botched job, and it leaves the solution in the hands of a third country.”
Under the deal, Turkey has agreed to take back migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for political incentives including billions of euros in aid and visa-free European travel for its citizens.
The Turkish agreement is the cornerstone of the EU’s plan to curb a crisis that has seen 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants enter since 2015.
Garcia-Margallo criticised EU efforts on refugees as “very inadequate” compared to countries like Lebanon, which has taken in more than a million people fleeing the Syrian war — equivalent to more than a quarter of its own population.
In April, acting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy faced heavy criticism from lawmakers over the fact that Spain had taken in only 16 asylum-seekers under an EU relocation plan, out of a promised 16,000.