Frans Timmermans

Officials from Turkey and the European Union will meet on Nov. 29 in Brussels to discuss the implementation of a migrant deal and prospective visa liberalization for Turkish nationals, amid mutual recriminations about the state of the Ankara-Brussels relationship. 

Claims about the role of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen in Turkey's foiled coup attempt on July 15 are "not total nonsense," European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans has said.

Kati Piri, the rapporteur for Turkey at the European Parliament, has said she does not believe visa-free travel for Turkish citizens will be realized in the short term as Turkey will not be able to fulfill the remaining criteria by a July deadline, BBC Turkish has reported.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed the extension of emergency border controls inside the passport-free Schengen area, declaring that the tighter checks were justified by shortfalls in Greece's management of the European Union's external border.

European Commission vice-President Frans Timmermans stated the Dublin accord on refugees is not functioning because EU member-states in the periphery had been left to deal with the problems alone.

The European Commission has proposed to the European Parliament and EU governments to scrap visa requirements for Turkish citizens provided that Turkey will fulfil the outstanding benchmarks of its Visa Liberalisation Roadmap.

The European Commission recommended May 4 that Turkish citizens be added to the list of countries to be exempt from visas when entering the Schengen zone. 

As part of a Turkey-EU migrant deal reached to curb the flow of migrants into the bloc, the EU pledged visa-free travel for Turkish citizens by July on the stipulation that Turkey met all 72 required criteria.

The European Commission is today proposing to the European Parliament and Council of the European Union to lift the visa requirements for the citizens of Turkey, under the understanding that the Turkish authorities will fulfill the outstanding benchmarks of its Visa Liberalization Roadmap.

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Sweden have proposed to the European Commission to extend temporary controls at the internal borders of the Schengen Area to tackle migration flows more efficiently, Die Welt reported on Saturday.

Turkey's crackdown on the media and reported human rights abuses are pushing the country further away from Europe even as it hopes to join the European Union, a senior official for the bloc has said.