Turkish citizens will get visa free travel around European Union next year, top EU politician says
If Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn is correct it will happen BEFORE Britain leaves the bloc
TURKISH citizens are likely to be given the right to travel visa-free around Europe before Britain leaves the EU, according to a top politician.
Visa-free travel was one of the biggest promises of a deal between Turkey and the European Union which was hammered out in March.
In exchange for freedom of movement and a cash sweetener Turkey would stop the flow of migrants from Syria into Europe.
But there has been uncertainty since then with the foiled July 15 coup attempt and Ankara’s declaration of a three-month state of emergency.
Despite this the foreign minister of Luxembourg, Jean Asselborn, says he believes the problems can be ironed out and thinks Turkey will be granted freedom of movement by next year.
reports Mr Asselborn said: "Apart from the anti-terror laws, all points are currently solvable, which are a prerequisite for a visa-free entry of Turkish citizens into the EU."
Turkey, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been attempting to join the bloc for several years.
It was a big issue during Britain’s EU referendum with David Cameron frantically trying to claim there is no prospect of Turkish membership “for decades” in a bid to defuse warnings from Brexiteers that its 75 million population will pile new immigration pressures on the UK.
That is despite the fact he once vowed to “pave the road from Ankara to Brussels” and that Britain is paying £675 million to help prepare the country to join – as revealed by The Sun.
Theresa May now looks likely to trigger Article 50 early next year – beginning the two year formal process of leaving the EU.
RELATED STORIES
This will mean if Mr Asselborn is correct then Britain will still be a member of the EU when Turkey is granted free movement.
Turkey must meet an extensive list of conditions before it is allowed to be a member of the EU.
One is that if Turkey helped to stop the flow of migrants getting into EU countries then its people would be granted visa free travel.
But a major sticking point is Turkey refusing to soften its anti-terrorism laws – which is one of the conditions it must meet before it can become a member of the EU.
EU countries want to make sure it cannot use those laws to target academics and journalists but it says it is not possible to change them while it faces an increased security threat.
Mr Asselborn is optimistic Turkey will be able to make changes to the laws soon.
He said: "But I think that by the end of the year or early 2017, a solution for the anti-terrorism legislation will be possible if the situation in Turkey calmed down and Turkey is willing to follow the rules of Europe."
And in terms of the failed coup attempt in Turkey by some members of the military, Mr Asselborn said the EU had not properly understood what happened.
He said: “We didn't fully recognise the depth of the wound, which was beaten into the public opinion in Turkey after the military coup.
"The people who are taking to the streets against the coup have also demonstrated for democracy.
“We misunderstood this a little bit."