The European Commission opened today the way to allow Turkish citizens to travel without a visa for short stays in the Schengen area. The President of the European People’s Party (EPP), Joseph Daul, made the following statement:
“Today the European Commission proposed visa-free travel for citizens of Turkey. I applaud this fact, but visa-free travel requires fulfilling benchmarks and commitments. Before placing Turkey on the list of countries whose citizens can enjoy visa-free travel for short stays in Europe, Ankara must fulfill the five pending criteria by the end of June. The European Commission has made it very clear. This means that by end of June, and upon fulfillment of all criteria, the European Parliament and Council will take their decision on today's Commission proposal and must then uphold their responsabilities. The EPP will only support visa liberalisaton for Turkey once all the benchmarks are met.
The EU-Turkey Agreement entails rights and responsibilities for both parties. Once the Turkish authorities have completed all visa liberalisation requirements, the European Parliament and Council will follow through on their commitments. To tackle the migration crisis requires common efforts from EU Member States and Europe’s neighbouring countries, in particular Turkey.
The deal reached with Turkey on 18 March is a cornerstone in tackling human smuggling and reducing the migration flow. The results are in: the number of refugees has dropped drastically. This proves that when all stakeholders work together under the strong leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, the European Union provides solutions.”
The EPP Manifesto, also adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, outlines the basic principles of the Party summary.
The EPP Manifesto, also adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, outlines the basic principles of the Party summarising who we are, what our values are, what challenges are we facing and what vision we have for the future. The Manifesto was developed in parallel to the EPP Platform document within the EPP Working Group 1 for “European Policy”.
The EPP Platform is the core programme of our party outlining our main values, explaining the challenges our society is facing and presenting our vision for the future of European Union.
The Party Platform was developed in EPP Working Group 1 for “European Policy” chaired by EPP President Wilfried MARTENS ?and EPP Vice President Peter HINTZE. The Working Group consists of delegates of EPP member parties who prepared and worked?on this document for more than two years and received input?from the drafting committee as well as senior and young experts. The document was adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, thus replacing the Basic Programme of Athens from 1992.
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