Özdemir and Lagendijk question EU on visas for Turks

European Parliament members Joost Lagendijk and Cem Özdemir have questioned the European Commission on a decision regarding the issue of visa-free entry to EU countries for Turks. An article in Today's Zaman.

By Ünal Aslan

On Feb. 19, a ruling of the European Court of Justice cleared the way for Turkish businesspeople providing services in European Union member states to enter the EU without first having to obtain visas for short-term stays of up to three months -- a decision that experts say is a step toward removing many of the other restrictions that EU countries currently impose on Turkish nationals. The ruling was sparked by a case opened by two Turkish truck drivers against Germany that said they had the right to enter Germany without a visa under a past agreement signed between Turkey and the European Union, known as the European Economic Community (EEC) at the time.

As German authorities release contradictory reactions to the ruling, it has also been brought to the agenda of the European Commission. Netherlands Left-Green Party deputy and EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee Co-chair Lagendijk and German Green Party European Parliament member and Green Party Co-chair Özdemir have presented a question motion to the commission on the topic. In it, the parliamentarians cite past, similar court rulings and ask whether the commission will change the status of Turkey on the lists of countries whose citizens need visas to enter EU nations.

In a statement, Lagendijk calls on the commission to take the initiative on the subject and clearly elucidate the legal repercussions of the ruling on Turkish citizens on short-term trips to EU nations and what this will mean in the future for other EU candidate countries. The motion also asks whether the EU Commission shares the view th at a politically unexplainable situation of requiring visas from Turkish citizens harms Turkey's economic and political integration and fails to serve the EU's interests.

European Commission to meet on issue in mid-April

As for the EU Commission itself, it says it will review the issue in mid-April. The commission will review the motion submitted by Lagendijk and Özdemir and issue an official position statement on the topic and must do so by mid-April at the latest. The commission's response to the motion will be the first reaction to the issue and will communicate the EU's official position on the matter. Last week, President Abdullah Gül, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and EU chief negotiator Egemen Bağış brought the issue up on a trip to Brussels, requesting that the EU take steps forward on the issue of visas for Turkish citizens traveling to EU nations.

Source: Today's Zaman
www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=170920&bolum=102