EU Commission set to support Turkish visa deal

The European Commission is expected to issue a qualified recommendation that by the end of June Turkish citizens will be able to travel to Europe without requiring a visa.

The move is part of the EU-Turkey deal agreed in March to try to limit the flows of refugees crossing from Turkey to Greece.

The change could take effect from July, but first it requires approval by the European Parliament and member states.

EU officials insist that Turkey has yet to meet some key EU criteria.

The deal was offered in return for Turkey taking back migrants who crossed the Aegean Sea to Greece.

The EU fears that without this deal, Turkey will not control migration.

Also today the commission will set out a formal proposal to change the so-called Dublin Regulation, which governs Europe's asylum rules.

It is reported that countries which refuse to take in refugees could face high penalties under the new rules.

Turkey is the only EU candidate country whose citizens must go through a lengthy visa process each time they want to travel to Europe for business purposes or tourism.

The EU has historically demanded that Turkey first fulfil 72 benchmarks governing things such as human rights legislation, the definition of terrorism and introducing biometric passport systems.

Turkey has been rushing to meet the criteria. The commission is expected to say that not all benchmarks have been met but will recommend that a review be carried out in June, when EU leaders are due to give their final say.

The EU-Turkey deal is having an effect, with the numbers of migrants risking their lives to cross to Greece dropping to a trickle.

However, the Turkish president has warned that if the EU does not stick to its word on visa-free travel then all bets are off, and the readmission of refugees from Greece back to Turkey will stop.