ANKARA, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will push for a speedy resumption of talks with the European Union to update their customs union during a visit to Turkey by the bloc’s commissioner for enlargement, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said on Thursday.
Turkey has been an official candidate to join the EU since 1999, but its accession has been frozen for years over issues ranging from human rights to democratic backsliding. The sides have in recent months shown signs of increased engagement and economic cooperation.
The EU-Turkey customs union entered into force in 1995, but is limited to industrial goods and processed agricultural products. Turkey has repeatedly called for talks to modernise the deal to restart, but no concrete steps have been taken.
The source said EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos would visit Turkey on Friday.
During the talks, Fidan will “underline that it is essential for discussions to modernise the customs union to start without delay,” the person said.
The source also said Fidan would call for cooperation on migration to be “reshaped on the basis of fair sharing of burden and responsibility in line with the realities in the field.”
Under a 2016 deal, Ankara significantly curbed migration to Europe and agreed to take back migrants who had crossed from its territory to Europe in return for EU aid to help fund more than four million refugees on Turkish soil.
Fidan will also convey Turkey’s expectation that the bloc’s move in July to ease visa regulations for Turks be implemented effectively, the source said.
After years of complaints by Turks regarding the bloc’s visa system that the EU says was overwhelmed by applications, the EU decided to ease rules for Turks to use its open-border Schengen area.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren Butler and Sharon Singleton)
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