The TurkEU Blog is on vacation. It will be back in late July. Have a great summer!

Bağış: Turkey has passed visa threshold | Hürriyet

Back from a conference in Prague - lovely city!

Apparently, the June 22 meeting on visa-free travel in the EU for Turks went well. Hürriyet Daily News:

According to Bağış, visa exemptions for Turkish citizens traveling to the European Unionwill take effect in around three to four years.  

On June 22, the EU minister held meetings with European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle and EUterm president Denmark’s minister of European cooperation, Nicolai Wammen, in Brussels. 

“A new process is beginning with the EU and our aim is to facilitate visa-free travel to the EU for our 75 million citizens,” Bağış said at the June 22’s meeting. 

POLITICS - Turkey has passed visa threshold: Bağış

See also the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/world/middleeast/turks-seek-freedom-to-travel-to-europe-without-visas.html?pagewanted=all

Turkey hopes for EU visa breakthrough this week | EUobserver.com

If it goes, a very interesting development reported on by EUobserver.com:

Turkey is aiming to tell its 75 million citizens on Thursday (21 June) they can visit the EU without visas in a couple of years' time.

For more, read the story on the EUobserver's website: EUobserver.com / Enlargement / Turkey hopes for EU visa breakthrough this week

Cyprus readies EU presidency plan (and discusses Turkey) | EurActiv

Interesting tidbit from EurActiv:

The Cypriot Ambassador to the EU, Kornelios Korneliou, provided a first insight yesterday (6 June) into the country's ambitions for its EU Presidency period, which begins in July. [...] 

The EU's enlargement negotiation process with Turkey will be a hot potato for Cyrpus as Ankara has warned it could freeze relations with the Cyprus Presidency or even with the EU, over the unsolved problem of the islands’ reunification (see background). 

Even so, the ambassador seemed confident about his country's chances of advancing talks with Turkey. Korneliou responded to a question from EurActiv, by saying that during its presidency, the Republic of Cyprus would not promote its national positions and behave as a “honest broker”. 

“What I said, I mean it. If Turkey delivers, we are going to deliver," the diplomat emphasised. "The bilateral issue we have with Turkey will not be part of our presidency. Turkey doesn't want anything to do with the Cyprus Presidency. Turkey decided this policy. It’s very unfortunate." 

He continued: “We should not forget that geography does not change. A more European Turkey will be in the interest not only of Cyprus, it will be in the interest of the European Union, it will be in the interest of Turkey. But we should play by the rules of the game. Big members such as Germany play by the rule of the game. Turkey should do the same”.

Cyprus readies EU presidency plan, and bailout bid | EurActiv

Turkey Charges Pianist Fazil Say Over Twitter Posts | NYTimes.com

Turkey Charges Pianist Fazil Say Over Twitter Posts - NYTimes.com

EU prepares for 'new stage' in economic union | EurActiv

A great public display of disagreement between the French (Eurobonds now) and German (Eurobonds only after fiscal union) positions is the result of the summit held on May 23. But while they are far apart, both France and Germany want further, deeper integration. The seem to be arguing over the chronology, not the direction.

From EurActiv.com's report of the summit:

The European Central Bank's President Mario Draghi was on the same page. Issuing jointly backed European debt would not make sense until the euro zone reaches some kind of fiscal union, he said after the EU leaders meeting. 

"Euro bonds make sense when you have a fiscal union, otherwise they don't make sense," Draghi told reporters in Brussels. 

Asked later by EurActiv if some kind of central EU finance ministry would be considered, Van Rompuy did not dismiss the idea but said it was just one among a number of options being discussed.

And the German position:

Germany’s European Central Bank executive board member, Jörg Asmussen, said ahead of the summit that the euro zone should be backed by “a fiscal union and banking union as well as a democratic legitimised political union”.

EU prepares for 'new stage' in economic union | EurActiv

For you to read while I'm grading...

Grading, grading... but here are what seems like two good reads (I literally have not had time to read them the whole way through, so you tell me if they're worth it!):

The Economist on the EU's choice: break up or move toward what will start to smell like a federation. I made a similar point last July in an interview in Metro. This is, no doubt, a massive crisis for the EU, but US media tends to underestimate the significance of the fact that European integration proceeds in this fashion. Periods of stagnation and/or intense crises, which can only be averted by further integration, are typically followed by just that: further integration.

And this perspective on the improving prospects for Turkey-EU relations.

The TurkEU Blog shall resurface once grades are turned in.

Turkey ramps up pace of EU bid after French polls | Hürriyet

From Hürriyet Daily News:

Hollande’s victory over Nicolas Sarkozy, an avowed opponent of Turkey’s EU membership bid, has led to cautious optimism in Ankara that France may now unblock several chapters in the accession talks, which have been at a standstill since 2010. EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle will be in Turkey tomorrow to discuss the so-called “positive agenda” between Ankara and Brussels. 

POLITICS - Turkey ramps up pace of EU bid after French polls

On my way to Istanbul

Visiting in Istanbul for a few days (writing this on my phone at Arlanda Airport). It has been too long since I was there so I'm greatly looking forward to the trip. There won't be too much time for leisure but I'm hoping to at least catch up with some friends and have a cup of kahve at Istiklal Caddesi.

Reunification talks collapse before Cyprus EU stint | EurActiv

Coming directly from a very interesting talk by, and then lunch with, the head of the "Turkey desk" at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I will blog about his talk shortly, but in the meanwhile, this just in from EurActiv.com:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said progress in the talks to reunify the divided island of Cyprus was insufficient to call an international conference. The statement appears to put an end to hopes that Cyprus' upcoming EU presidency could be a catalyst for the resolution of the Cyprus problem.

An island divided. Courtesy of the Nations Online Project.

The background is that Ban Ki-moon has been pressuring the parties to come to an agreement ahead of July of this year, which is when (Greek) Cyprus is set to take over the EU's rotating presidency. Turkey has warned that it will essentially freeze relations with the Union during the Cypriot presidency, and one (the only?) way around that would have been an agreement or at least very substantial movement toward a resolution of the Cyprus conflict before July.

In that spirit, Alexander Downer - the UN special advisor to Cyprus - last month announced that he wanted to hold an international conference in May, at which the two parties and the UK would finalize an accord. But it now appears that there has not been enough movement toward a resolution for the conference to be held, which spells trouble for Cyprus and for Turkey-EU relations as a whole, at least during the Cypriot presidency.

Reunification talks collapse before Cyprus EU stint | EurActiv