A Tale of Two Courts: The EU-Turkey Statement before the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights

From a legal perspective, the controversy surrounding the EU-Turkey Statement, which provides for the return of “irregular migrants” from the Greek islands to Turkey, would appear to be settled after both the CJEU and the ECtHR dealt with it. While the former unexpectedly held that the Statement is not an EU act, and thus refused to examine the merits of the complaints, the latter only found relatively minor violations of the rights of migrants held in Greek reception centres following the enactment of the Statement. Are these decisions the final words of the two Courts as regards the validity and human rights-compliance of the Statement? This contribution argues that it is premature to say so. The rulings of the ECtHR appear inextricably linked to the specific circumstances of the cases lodged with it, while the CJEU has, inter alia, yet to clarify the notion of “safe third country” and whether Turkey can qualify as such. The Tale of Two Courts might not have come to an end yet.