BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — On May 4, the European Commission is expected to present its progress report on Turkey’s implementation of the deal. If Turkey fulfills all the terms, the Commission may recommend to pave way toward visa-free travel for Turkish nationals by June.
"The Turkish authorities evidently have been accelerating the adoption of legal and administrative reforms allowing them to fulfill the requirements <…> We refer to 72 benchmarks and we say 35 of them are fulfilled or almost entirely fulfilled," Cygan said in the European Parliament.
In return, the European Union pledged to provide a total of 3 billion euros (over $3.3 billion) to Turkey to help it deal with refugees, with a possible further 3 billion-euro provision in 2018. The 28-member bloc also agreed to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and Europe.
