The EU-Turkey action plan to counter the ongoing refugee crisis has not been implemented by all sides, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Monday.
“This is our common problem. It’s not a problem of one country, it’s a European problem. Unfortunately, between the two summits, there were agreements that weren’t implemented [by] all sides,” Tsipras told reporters before the EU-Turkey summit.
Tsipras also expressed hope that the talks would result in the parties finding and implementing ways to curb the refugee influx into the bloc, as well as destroying refugee smuggling networks.
Europe has been beset by a refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries in the Middle East and North Africa to escape violence and poverty.
In November 2015, the European Commission held a joint summit with Turkey. Following the meeting, the deal was agreed upon, under which Turkey promised to prevent refugees currently in the country or arriving there from reaching Europe in return for financial assistance in 2016-2017 and renewed talks on its EU accession.