Brussels, 27/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - In Berlin on Wednesday 25 May, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that it would take a bit longer to decide on the issue of visa liberalisation for Turkish nationals, with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan still refusing to make any changes to his country's anti-terrorism laws.
“I'm not worried, we simply need some time”, the Chancellor said following a meeting of her government, Reuters reported on 26 May. Merkel does not feel that this extra time will threaten the agreement concluded between the EU and Turkey on the management of flows of migrants.
The dossier of visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens will be examined on 14 June by the group of competent experts of the Council, alongside the Ukrainian and Kosovar dossiers. No decision is expected on Turkey before the European Summit of 28 and 29 June. The First Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, tweeted on Friday 27 May that an expert-level Commission delegation will visit Ankara next week to deal with the last remaining obstacles to the dossier.
Initially, the European leaders had agreed for this regime to be awarded to Turkey at the end of June if all of the 72 criteria had been met. However, a number of senior European political figures have since then suggested that this deadline could be pushed back to October, if the Turkish side is still not meeting its obligations and to allow for the required European Parliament vote (see EUROPE 11548). (Original version in French might Solenn Paulic)