国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Turkey, EU to talk for mending ties_时事

国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Turkey, EU to talk for mending ties

But, Ankara delayed the move for over one and a half years till early 2018 on the argument of ongoing struggle against various terrorist groups.

In February, Turkish government made an attempt to launch the visa liberalization dialogue with the EU and submitted its position paper regarding its roadmap for the fulfillment of the remaining seven benchmarks of 72 criteria for visa-free travel of Turkish citizens in Schengen area.

EU in return will give its assessment for the position paper, but not submit it before the Varna meeting, "not to cast shadow on the summit," an EU official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Ankara's customs union agreement with the EU came into force in 1995. Both Turkey and the EU seek to expand the scope of the agreement, which would have positive effects on trade relations in various industries.

Upgrading the agreement constitutes another topic of the meeting as Ankara wants to launch the process, which is likely to last at least in a couple of years.

However, Turkey's tense relations with Germany crippled the process last year. But Ankara and Berlin are in rapprochement since early 2018 which brings hope to pave the way for the process.

In Varna, EU officials cannot promise to launch talks to revamp customs union agreements because neither Tusk nor Junker has the authority to give promises on behalf of 28 members of the bloc, since there is not yet a consensus among them for the launch of technical talks, the EU official said.