The European Union’s executive backed visa-free status for Turkey but faced immediate push back from EU lawmakers who said they would vote to approve the decision only when Ankara had met all the remaining conditions.
The European Commission said Wednesday that Turkey has made rapid progress in recent weeks to meet the conditions set by Brussels. However, it acknowledged it was giving a formal green light while Turkey still had several key overhauls to complete.
Turkey has fallen short on five remaining conditions of the 72 needed, the commission said. Two additional measures can be completed only after the end-June target date for the deal.
“Over the last weeks, Turkey has made impressive progress. There is still work to be done, but if Turkey continues at the same pace, it can meet the remaining benchmarks,” said European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans.
In a statement a few hours after the decision, EU lawmakers said the European Parliament’s top officials had met and agreed to “play a constructive role to contribute to a successful outcome.”
However, they warned lawmakers wouldn’t vote to back Turkey’s visa-free bid until the benchmarks were complete “and until the Commission provides the Parliament with a written guarantee that it is the case.”
The parliament and a clear majority of member states must back the visa-free request, which would allow 79 million Turks to travel for up to 90 days to the bloc without a visa if they have a modern biometric passport that features an electronic chip containing fingerprints and other personal data.
EU officials have said in recent days that while Turkey has made broad efforts to meet the requirements, Ankara hasn’t tackled some of the toughest conditions set by Brussels.
Those include revisions to sweeping anti-terrorism laws to safeguard fair trials and freedom of speech and assembly, and changes to data protection laws to ensure authorities can’t abuse the information. Ankara has repeatedly sidestepped such demands in the past.
“No one should doubt our sincerity,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday in Ankara before the commission announced its decision. “Turkey kept its word, the European Union should also keep its promise.”
Turkish officials have warned that if the EU doesn’t follow through on the visa-free pledge, Ankara could abandon promises to take back asylum seekers who cross from the country into Greece, significantly worsening the migration crisis.
As part of efforts to persuade member states to accept the deal, the European Commission also agreed to bow to pressure from member states to reinforce its safeguard mechanisms for visa-free agreements. These changes will make it easier and faster to suspend the deals if there is a problem.
The visa-free system will also effectively be phased in as most Turks don’t have biometric passports, as demanded by the EU. “As of today, the number of Turkish citizens who have these kind of passports is zero,” an EU official said.
Turkish authorities plan to roll out the new passports as of June 1, at a pace of up to 10,000 passports a day, the EU official said. Mr. Cavusoglu said Wednesday that existing passport-holders would have to pay a fee of 87.5 liras($30) to cover the cost of the document. New applicants will have to pay an additional fee of up to $185 for four- to 10-year passports.
Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir said Turkish officials would meet with European parliamentarians led by the chamber’s president, Martin Schulz, in coming weeks to drum up support for a yes vote.
“Today, it became possible to start the legislative procedure and, God willing, the process will be completed by the end of June,” Mr. Bozkir said.
