Turkey, EU to kick off bilateral agenda in June's political dialogue meeting

Turkey and the European Union are set to focus on upgrading the Customs Union agreement and a migrant deal, according to an agreed 12-month road map on bilateral ties, with the first gathering to be held on June 13.

Ankara and Brussels plan to hold a political dialogue meeting at ministerial level in July. Energy dialogue and economy meetings will be revived in the upcoming months as well, a Turkish official told the Hürriyet Daily News on condition of anonymity. 

In a highly-anticipated gathering on May 25, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker before a NATO summit in the Belgian capital, where they agreed to revive strained ties. 

In the meeting, EU officials asked Erdoğan about Ankara's intention regarding its membership bid with the bloc and whether or not it would step in to restart the process, according to the official. Erdoğan, in his earlier remarks, had vowed that Ankara would reconsider its position on joining the bloc if it kept waiting much longer and if the current "hostile mentality" of some member-states persisted.

In the meeting, the Turkish side stressed that Ankara's goal was full membership in the bloc. The Turkish delegation, however, said Turkey has been suffering a trauma after the coup attempt of July 15, 2016, but the EU did not help as it underwent the aftermath of the attempted takeover. Yet, eventually, the parties decided the EU-Turkey relations would resume from where they left, the official said.

Flow of funds and increase of migrant intake 

According to the road map, the EU and Turkey will ensure they fulfill the obligations they signed in the March 18 migrant agreement in 2016.