Turkey must fulfil all the requirements laid down by the EU in order to be granted visa-free access to the Schengen area, stressed Civil Liberties Committee MEPs in Thursday’s debate on Ankara’s progress in delivering on its visa liberalisation roadmap.
A majority of MEPs rejected the idea of relaxing the criteria and called on the EU Commission to verify Turkey’s compliance with care.
As part of the EU-Turkey deal reached on 18 March to better manage migration and refugee flows, EU leaders offered to accelerate visa liberalisation, with a view to granting Turkish citizens visa-free travel in the EU by June 2016, provided that all benchmarks were met.
The next progress report assessing the situation will be presented on 4 May. Once the Commission approves a legislative proposal to exempt Turkey from visa requirements, the Parliament will have to decide upon it, together with the Council, under the co-decision procedure.
