Courtesy of Mish.
On May 4, Brussels gave its approval to visa-free travel for Turks. That approval still needs to be ratified by a weighted average of ministers as well as the European parliament.
Just a few hours after the Brussels green light, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan sacked Ahmet Davutoglu, the prime minister who negotiated the deal with German chancellor Angela Merkel.
In between, Renzi and Merkel held a love fest with an extremely skeptical France on the sidelines.
Final result: Uncertain but is Merkel pulling her hair out as her scheme is set to collapse.
My, how things change in a day.
EU Set to Approve Deal With Turkey
Flashback May 4: Brussels Gives Green Light to Visa-Free Travel for Turks.
The European Commission has recommended that Turks be granted visa-free travel in the EU despite Ankara’s failure to revise its terrorism legislation to ensure that it does not lead to the prosecution of peaceful protesters and journalists.
Granting visa-free travel to Turkey was one of the most controversial concessions granted to Ankara as part of a deal to convince Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, to clamp down on the influx of refugees into the EU. The EU has also promised €6bn in aid and reopening negotiations on some elements of Turkey’s EU membership application.
The travel deal has strong backing in Germany, but several other EU members are skittish about the concession, particularly in France, where President François Hollande has faced withering criticism from the surging rightwing National Front party over the policy.
Bruno Le Maire, one of the contenders for the centre-right presidential nomination said on Wednesday that he “opposed” a decision made “in a hurry and without consulting national parliaments”, echoing views expressed by Nicolas Sarkozy, chairman of the Republicans party, as well as by Marine Le Pen, the National Front leader.
“Liberalising the visa regime means granting freedom of movement to Turkish citizens in Europe,” Mr Le Maire, a former agriculture minister, said. “In case of political or economic crisis in Turkey, will our societies have to bear the brunt of a potential influx of Turkish citizens?”
The programme must still clear both national ministers, who have to approve Turkey’s admission to the scheme by a weighted majority of member states, and the European parliament, where there were already signs that the scheme may be in trouble.
Manfred Weber, a conservative German MEP who heads the parliament’s largest party group, broke from his political ally Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying it was wrong for the commission to back the scheme.
“There must be no watering down of the rules on visa liberalisation for Turkey,” Mr Weber said. “It is hard to understand why the commission is now proposing visa liberalisation despite Turkey not meeting all the criteria.”
Shaky Ground
