As Austria has taken over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union in July, Ankara does not expect a considerable agenda with the new term president, even at refugee issue, given tensions between Ankara and Vienna.
Ankara will likely to have “minimum dialogue” with the new term president Austria, a Turkish official told Hürriyet Daily News.
Turkey will focus on legislations to meet remaining benchmarks in order to start visa liberalization process, but the Turkish government will first conclude necessary arrangements for restructure of its bureaucracy, said the official.
Turkey’s EU ministry will be closed down, its will be fully transferred to the Foreign Ministry and the former will preserve its organizational chart but without a minister.
After the structural transformation finalized, then the necessary law amendments for visa liberalization will wait opening of new legislation year of the parliament . EU expects Turkey to change its anti-terrorism legislation among the six remaining benchmarks in order to launch visa liberalization dialogue.
Even for the visa liberalization, the necessary dialogue will be conducted with the commission, not with the term presidency, the official added.
Turkish-EU relations have already been purely transactional, covering only a few areas of mutual interest such as the refugee deal and counterterrorism cooperation,
Austria will have an important say in setting the agenda at the many meetings between member states and it already has said it plans to use its presidency to shift toward preventing further waves of migrant arrivals.
