CER podcast: Emergency EU Turkey summit

In the CER’s latest podcast, Sophia Besch talks to CER justice and home affairs research fellow Camino Mortera-Martinez about yesterday’s European Council agreement on the migration crisis, and analyses the power dynamics between Germany, Turkey and EU member-states. 

Mortera-Martinez highlights the legal and technical problems with the agreement. She questions the legality of the decision to return asylum-seekers to Turkey. 

Besch and Mortera-Martinez also discuss how Schengen’s external borders can be strengthened and how and why we should keep Schengen alive. 

Mortera-Martinez argues that Schengen stimulates labour mobility and increases trade between member-states. The collapse of Schengen would further damage the EU's reputation and encourage populism.