Brussels, 04/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - Following months of waiting and negotiations, the EU and Turkey reached an agreement on Wednesday 4 December on launching a dialogue on visa liberalisation - long requested this dialogue by Turkey - as well as a readmission agreement of the country's migrants who entered the EU illegally. These two processes will be launched on 16 December next in Ankara, according to an announcement made on Wednesday by Commissioner Malmström, Commissioner Stefan Füle and Turkish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ahmet Davutoglu.
The readmission agreement and dialogue on the visa waiver system, suspended for more than a year, had originally been expected to be signed in July 2012, after the Danish Presidency obtained a consensus at the Council on the visa question. Malmström was unable to go to Ankara, however, to sign this readmission agreement due to blockages encountered on the Turkish side. Given the reforms that Turkey will be asked to make to obtain the visa free system, the process will be concluded within a maximum of three and a half years, according to the Turkish minister. All Turkish citizens who have a passport will, in the long term ,be able to go to the EU for a period of three months (renewable) without having to have a visa. In exchange, Ankara is committed to taking back all the migrants in Europe who entered via Turkish territory. This will include its own nationals, as well as those from third countries. The Greek-Turkish border is often seen as the main port of entry into the EU for migrants, despite significant border controls and the construction of a barbed wire fence in the Evros region, which, according to Frontex, has helped to reduce the numbers coming in this way.
Davutoglu said that discussions that were being held at the same time on the “Cypriot question” should not be allowed to harm this process or slow it down. (SP/transl.fl)