On 4 May, the Commission has presented its third report on Turkey’s progress in fulfilling the requirements of its visa liberalisation roadmap dated from 2013.
In parallel, to comply with the strict timeframe set by the EU Member States’ Heads of State and Government, and on the understanding that Turkish authorities will take the necessary measures to fulfil all the outstanding benchmarks, on 4 May the Commission has also presented a proposal to transfer Turkey to the list of visa-free countries.
The Commission’s proposal opens the way for the European Parliament and the Member States to decide to lift Turkish citizens’ visa requirements, once the benchmarks have been met.
It also gives, -and it is equally important- adequate time for consulting the national parliaments on this issue.
Let me underline that in the last months the Turkish authorities have made really substantial progress in fulfilling the visa liberalisation roadmap, with a further acceleration since the 18 March EU-Turkey Summit:
– As a result of this, for example, they are now fully cooperating with Greece on readmission;
– we see a clear reduction of the number of irregular arrivals to Greece
from 6,000 a day in October 2015
to around 140 in April with a continuing downward trend.
We also have to commend Turkey for hosting around 2.7 million Syrian refugees and more than 200,000 non-Syrian asylum seekers and refugees, granting to all of them free access to health care and education, now also to legal employment.
Meanwhile they are also improving the asylum procedures;
• they have ratified all international conventions and protocols on judicial cooperation indicated by the visa liberalisation roadmap;
• and as requested by the roadmap, they have also adopted several pieces of legislation (for instance on trafficking in human beings, and on judicial cooperation, and on equality and anti-discrimination, and action plans on social inclusion of citizens with Roma background,
on corruption, on fight against drug trafficking, on fight against organised crime which they are starting to implement.
But let me be clear as well that there is still progress to be made.
This implies for Turkey to take the following steps:
• to adopt measures to fight against corruption in line with the recommendations of the Council of Europe;
• to align its legislation on personal data protection with the EU standards;
• to conclude an operational cooperation agreement with Europol;
• to offer effective judicial cooperation in criminal matters to all Member States;
• and last but not least the need to better align with the European standards its legislation and practices on terrorism.
In the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March, Turkish authorities have expressed their determination to fulfil all benchmarks of the visa liberalisation roadmap by June. I am confident they remain committed to implement all aspects of that Statement.
In any case the Commission will continue to monitor closely the fulfilling of these benchmarks and naturally I and my services will ensure you are regularly updated.
We have to remain optimistic that the Turkish authorities will give that final push before the end of June.
I want to be clear: this agreement is beneficial for both sides.
We are not watering down our standards in order to provide visa-free.
But we are doing everything we can to provide support and expertise to the Turkish Authorities to accelerate what are also quite important reforms in their own right.
What is also important in their path towards the European Union.
The implementation of these reforms will not only contribute to the internal welfare of Turkey, but also will help EU and Turkey to develop effective cooperation in the framework of the global strategy that we are building with this key neighbour.
We are confronted with the same challenges. Cooperation is necessary.
I will give you an example:
only yesterday Turkey was hit by another terrorist attack.
I take this opportunity to express my thoughts for those injured and my indignation: terrorism must be condemned in every form and everywhere.
And we know how much sensitive the issue of terrorism is for Turkey.
But this proves how beneficial the close cooperation with Europol is for both sides.
For this to be achieved, Turkey needs to further align its data protection standards to the European-ones.
Not just because this is required by the roadmap:
But because the reforms required by the roadmap are the basis for an even stronger cooperation on both security and migration with sensitive data exchanges that needs adequate protection.
It is true that Turkey is considering this cooperation as a catalyst to reenergise our relations as well as its European perspective.
Indeed, it is an opportunity for Turkey to come closer to the European standards on all issues.
The fulfilment of the visa liberalisation roadmap is an important step towards his direction.
Now I would like to shortly mention another element of the package adopted on 4 May:
the Commission also proposed to revise the existing suspension mechanism of the visa free regime.
I will be very clear: the suspension mechanism is not about Turkey.
It is a horizontal provision which will apply to all visa-free countries, and not only Turkey.
I hope that the co-legislators will look favorably at this proposal although it should not delay the deliberations and the adoption of the visa liberalisation proposals.