Brussels, 02/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - According to several different media sources over the weekend (see EUROPE 11541), the European Commission was expected to propose (on Wednesday 4 May) a system for liberalising the way in which visas are awarded to Turkish citizens so that they can enter and travel within the Schengen area without visas for a three-month period.
European sources also confirmed this scenario on Monday 2 May, although the College of Commissioners still needs to discuss progress with Turkey on obtaining the system, on 4 May.
Turkey must first of all meet 72 criteria and it is possible that these will not all be met before 4 May, despite the Turkish authorities "working night and day", explained Mina Andreeva, the Commission spokesperson and the fact that "significant progress had also been achieved over the weekend". The Commission would therefore implement one of the conditions contained in the EU/Turkey agreement of 18 March, which seeks to reduce the flows of migrants towards Greece and which it is, nonetheless, obliged to put forward this proposal on 4 May in order to respect the deadline set out by the European leaders. During their two summits with Turkey (29 November and 18 March 2016), these leaders had made a commitment to make this visa waiver system possible for the end of June 2016. Whether the Council or the EP adopts it or not, the Commission is due to forward this proposal now, in order to respect the deadline, explained one European source.
In this configuration, the Turkish authorities would be called on to meet the final necessary criteria by June. The criteria that still need to be met relate to, for example, laws against terrorism, minority rights and legal cooperation with Cyprus. Criteria still need to be met to ensure that all Turkish nationals have biometric passports.
With this proposal put forward, it will be up to the ministers and the EP to approve it. The latter has hitherto harboured reservations in the preliminary hearings on the subject (see EUROPE 11527). With regard to the Council, certain countries have already said that they will only support this visa free system if the EU introduces a suspension clause that can be activated easily in the event of abuse being committed by Turkish nationals or if the conditions in this visa system are not fulfilled.
In a letter sent at the end of last week to the Commission on 27 April, the French and German governments said that they wanted a suspension mechanism to be put in place for the visa free system that was efficient and which could be swiftly activated. The safeguard clause already exists in the 539/2001regulation on visas but this appears complex when it comes to implementing when visa free system abuses are observed in several countries at the same time and when a certain digital ceiling is reached.
In the letter, France and Germany call for this temporary suspension of the visa free system to be based on criteria such as a substantial increase in the number of "over stayers", nationals that have arrived without visas and have overstayed their three-month authorised stay or when there is a sudden hike in the number of asylum demands being submitted by these same nationals. The suspension procedure is expected to be much swifter than the current procedure, which can take up to nine months between the observation phase and implementation of the clause. The two governments would also like member states to be able to postpone it at any moment if a sudden increase of these two phenomena is observed and if there were a need for this clause to be invoked. This visa waiver suspension system may apply for 6 months, explained the letter.
Manfred Weber, the head of the EPP at the EP proposed the same mechanism in a letter sent on 28 April to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. Martin Selmayr, the head of the Commission President's Cabinet, pointed out over the weekend that the proposals on "smart borders" creating an entry/exit system for third country travellers would also be a good way of controlling people entering the EU. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)