It was reported that the European Union evaluated the proposal of Ankara on the visa liberation of Turkiye's citizens to the EU countries, found positively. That the EU will call for improvements on three points. The issue expects to be resolved before the European Parliament elections that will be held next year.
According to German "Die Welt" newspaper reports, the proposal of Turkiye, which has submitted a month ago to the EU, has caused positive repercussions in Brussels for the visa obstacles to be removed for its citizens.
Turkiye, as requested by the EU for visa liberalization have been fulfilled 72 conditions apart from seven. Turkiye had submitted a proposal a month ago to the EU for those seven unmet conditions, especially the changes in the anti-terrorism law. Speaking to Die Welte the EU Commission said that the new proposals that Ankara had submitted a month ago to fulfill the remaining seven conditions for visa liberalization represent a "substantial" progress.
As further reports of the newspaper, the Commission's authority plans to submit its assessment to the Turkish government internally this week, while at the same time. Brussels is calling for even more "proportionality" in Turkish counter-terrorism legislation, as well as further efforts on data protection and the cooperation agreement with Europol.
Elections to the European Parliament will take place in May or June 2019. Turkiye and the EU have been negotiating since 2013 on the abolition of visa requirements for citizens of Turkiye to travel up to 90 days. As part of the refugee agreement of March 2016, both sides had originally agreed to allow visa-free travel for Turkiye's citizens "by the end of June 2016".
ILKHA