A conversation between Catherine Woollard, ECRE Secretary General, and Hedwig Giusto, FEPS Policy Advisor

Catherine Woollard, ECRE Secretary General, and Hedwig Giusto, FEPS Senior Policy Advisor, analyse the current emergency in the Turkish-Greek border while the worldwide attention is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. On one hand they condemn President Erdogan's attempt to use asylum seekers as pawns to achieve his geopolitical goals, on the other they recognise that Turkey has received and is hosting a mach larger number of refugees than the EU has done. Both experts agree on the need and urgency of a EU common answer and of the reform of the current EU asylum system. Meanwhile the relocation scheme should be reinforced in order to alleviate the pressure in the Aegean islands.