BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The European Parliament has suspended its work on granting Turkish citizens visa-free travels to the European Union, citing Ankara’s failure of meeting all the necessary criteria, the EUobserver online newspaper reported earlier in the day.
Erdogan rejects narrowing Turkey's overbroad anti-terrorism law, jeopardizing EU visa deal. https://t.co/tPVg4EEDIY pic.twitter.com/9q2T1nvpuY
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) 6 May 2016
"They [political groups of the European Parliament] will not start the legislative process until all requirements are met by TR [Turkey]," Armin Machmer told RIA Novosti.
#Turkey may have cleared most of 72 benchmarks for #EU visa-free travel, but @EU_Commission clear a big one remains pic.twitter.com/MIHk8FuxzD
— Peter Spiegel (@SpiegelPeter) 4 May 2016
The European Commission recommended last week the European Parliament to vote on visa-free regime for Turkey once the country had met all 72 required benchmarks. A decision on the matter is expected in June.
On Tuesday, Ankara and Brussels postponed a high-level meeting scheduled for May 13 to discuss the issue of visa liberalization for Turkish citizens visiting the Schengen area.
