EU Backs Visa-Free Status for Turkey
May 05 2016 - 12:40AM
Dow Jones News
BRUSSELS—The European Union's executive backed visa-free status
for Turkey but faced immediate pushback from EU lawmakers who said
they would vote to approve the decision only when Ankara had met
all the remaining conditions.
The European Commission said Wednesday that Turkey has made
rapid progress in recent weeks to meet the conditions set by
Brussels. However, it acknowledged it was giving a formal green
light while Turkey still had several key overhauls to complete.
Turkey has fallen short on five remaining conditions of the 72
needed, the commission said. Two additional measures can be
completed only after the end-June target date for the deal.
EU leaders agreed in March to try to grant visa-free access for
Turks to the bloc by the end of June in exchange for Turkey's
assistance over the migration crisis.
"Over the last weeks, Turkey has made impressive progress. There
is still work to be done, but if Turkey continues at the same pace,
it can meet the remaining benchmarks," said European Commission
Vice President Frans Timmermans.
In a statement a few hours after the decision, EU lawmakers said
the European Parliament's top officials had met and agreed to "play
a constructive role to contribute to a successful outcome."
However, they warned lawmakers wouldn't vote to back Turkey's
visa-free bid until the benchmarks were complete "and until the
Commission provides the Parliament with a written guarantee that it
is the case."
The parliament and a clear majority of member states must back
the visa-free request, which would allow 79 million Turks to travel
for up to 90 days to the bloc without a visa if they have a modern
biometric passport that features an electronic chip containing
fingerprints and other personal data.
EU officials have said in recent days that while Turkey has made
broad efforts to meet the requirements, Ankara hasn't tackled some
of the toughest conditions set by Brussels.
Those include revisions to sweeping antiterrorism laws to
safeguard fair trials and freedom of speech and assembly, and
changes to data protection laws to ensure authorities can't abuse
the information. Ankara has repeatedly sidestepped such demands in
the past.
"No one should doubt our sincerity," Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday in Ankara before the commission
announced its decision. "Turkey kept its word, the European Union
should also keep its promise."
Turkish officials have warned that if the EU doesn't follow
through on the visa-free pledge, Ankara could abandon promises to
take back asylum seekers who cross from the country into Greece,
significantly worsening the migration crisis.
As part of efforts to persuade member states to accept the deal,
the European Commission also agreed to bow to pressure from member
states to reinforce its safeguard mechanisms for visa-free
agreements. These changes will make it easier and faster to suspend
the deals if there is a problem.
The visa-free system will also effectively be phased in as most
Turks don't have biometric passports, as demanded by the EU.
"As of today, the number of Turkish citizens who have these kind
of passports is zero," an EU official said.
Turkish authorities plan to roll out the new passports as of
June 1, at a pace of up to 10,000 passports a day, the EU official
said.
Mr. Cavusoglu said Wednesday that existing passportholders would
have to pay a fee of 87.5 liras ($30) to cover the cost of the
document. New applicants will have to pay an additional fee of up
to $185 for four- to 10-year passports.
Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir said Turkish
officials would meet with European parliamentarians led by the
chamber's president, Martin Schulz, in coming weeks to drum up
support for a yes vote.
"Today, it became possible to start the legislative procedure
and, God willing, the process will be completed by the end of
June," Mr. Bozkir said.
Valentina Pop contributed to this article
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com and Emre
Peker at emre.peker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 05, 2016 00:25 ET (04:25 GMT)
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