Brussels, 27/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is still planning to present its report on Wednesday 4 May regarding Turkey's state of progress towards a visa liberalisation regime. The report could be accompanied by a legislative proposal aimed at waiving the requirement for visas for Turkish nationals wanting to travel in the Schengen area.
This intention was reiterated by High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini at the end of the college of commissioners' meeting on Wednesday 27 April - a meeting which focused on the visit of European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans to Turkey on Saturday 23 April. Mogherini confirmed that the Commission would keep its commitment of lifting the visa requirement if Turkey fulfilled the 72 criteria demanded of it.
According to a European source, Turkey has currently fulfilled around 50 of the criteria, and has legislation adopted almost daily in order to fulfil them, while the Commission holds videoconferences with the Turkish authorities on an almost daily basis in order to discuss these changes. If Turkey has fulfilled all its obligations, the Commission is due to present its proposal on 4 May regarding visa liberalisation. This should then be put to the vote at the Council of Ministers, possibly in June, and in the European Parliament. The mutual commitment of the EU and Turkey, taken on 29 November and on 7 and 18 March, is to make this visa-free regime possible by the end of June 2016. Alongside this, Turkey will have started to implement the agreement on readmitting illegal migrants from third countries to Turkey, who travelled through Turkey to reach the EU.
As regards the EU-Turkey agreement of 18 March, the return of Syrian or non-Syrian asylum seekers can be started as the Turkish authorities have given the last guarantees required by the Commission on the outcome of non-Syrian asylum seekers who have been sent back to Turkey. The Greek authorities still have to announce their initial decisions on this - in other words, the inadmissibility of the asylum application in Greece and the possible rejection of appeals by these asylum seekers.
Since 20 March there have so far been 375 people sent back to Turkey, but these are not asylum seekers as these people did not apply for asylum once they arrived in Greece, a source insists. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)