Visa liberalization in a hurry

European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, and Turkey´s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, launched the EU-Turkey Visa liberalisation dialogue in Ankara 13 December 2013.

The aim of the EU-Turkey visa liberalisation dialogue is to make progress towards the elimination of the visa obligation currently imposed on the Turkish citizens travelling to the Schengen area for a short term visit. The dialogue consists of a screening of the Turkish legislation and administrative practices, which will be carried out by the Commission on the basis of a document, elaborated by the latter, called "Roadmap towards the visa-free regime with Turkey".

According to the European Commissions Press Release 13 December 2013 this document 

lists the requirements which should be fulfilled by Turkey to allow the Commission to present a proposal based on solid grounds to the Council and the Parliament to amend the EC Regulation 539/2001, listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement, so as to move Turkey from its negative to the positive list.

Among the requirements included in the Roadmap many refer, inter alia, to the need to implement in a full and effective manner the readmission agreement, to manage the borders and the visa policy in such a manner as to effectively prevent irregular migration, to have secure travel documents, to establish migration and asylum systems in line with international standards, to have functioning structures for combating organised crime with focus on migrants' smuggling and trafficking in human beings, to have in place and implement adequate forms of police and judicial cooperation with the EU Member States and the international community, and to respect the fundamental rights of the citizens and the foreigners with a specific attention to persons belonging to minorities and vulnerable categories.

Once the Commission considers that all the requirements listed in the Roadmap are fulfilled and has presented its proposal to amend the EC Regulation 539/2001, this proposal will be voted by qualified majority by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. 

The Press Release also said that the Roadmap does not set a specific timetable by when the dialogue should be completed or this proposal should be presented, thus 

the speed of the process towards visa liberalisation will depend essentially on the progress which will be made by Turkey in addressing the requirements set out in the Roadmap. 

However, speeding up the process and specifying a timetable was incorporated in EU-Turkey migrant deal of 18 March 2016

with a view to lifting the visa requirements for Turkish citizens at the latest by the end of June 2016, provided that all benchmarks have been met.

Not surprising, 4 May 2016 the European Commission  opened way for decision by June on visa-free travel for citizens of Turkey. First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said

Turkey has made impressive progress, particularly in recent weeks, on meeting the benchmarks of its visa liberalisation roadmap. There is still work to be done as a matter of urgency but if Turkey sustains the progress made, they can meet the remaining benchmarks. This is why we are putting a proposal on the table which opens the way for the European Parliament and the Member States to decide to lift visa requirements, once the benchmarks have been met

Because EU is under great pressure due to migration crisis, there is reason to believe that the European Parliament and the Member States will decide to lift the the visa requirements.