Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will push for a speedy resumption of talks with the EU to update the customs union during a visit by the bloc's commissioner for enlargement, Marta Kosto, to Türkiye, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said Thursday.
Türkiye has been an official candidate to join the EU since 1999, but its accession has been frozen for years over issues ranging from human rights to democratic backsliding. The sides have in recent months shown signs of increased engagement and economic cooperation.
The EU-Türkiye Customs Union entered into force in 1995 but is limited to industrial goods and processed agricultural products. Türkiye has repeatedly called for talks to modernize the deal to restart, but no concrete steps have been taken.
The source said Kosto would visit Türkiye on Feb. 5-6.
During the talks, Fidan is expected to underline that “it is essential for discussions to modernize the customs union to start without delay," the source said.
The source also said Fidan would call for cooperation on migration to be "reshaped on the basis of fair sharing of burden and responsibility in line with the realities in the field."
Under a 2016 deal, Ankara significantly curbed migration to Europe and agreed to take back migrants who had crossed from its territory to Europe in return for EU aid to help fund more than 4 million refugees on Turkish soil.
Fidan is also expected to convey Türkiye’s expectation that the bloc's move in July to ease visa regulations for Turks be implemented effectively, the source said.
During a recent interview with Anadolu Agency (AA), Kosto stressed that due to last year's high-level dialogue on migration, the EU could introduce the so-called cascade system, allowing Turkish citizens to more easily get multiple visas, and that "this is already showing the results."
She highlighted that visa-free travel is one of the main topics in which she would like to see advancement, but warned that there are six conditions to be fulfilled.
Vowing to keep visa liberalization on the "high priority list" during her visit to Ankara, she explained that connectivity does not only mean "hard power in the sense of trade and transport and energy."
Previously, Fidan noted that Türkiye’s inability to fully integrate with the EU, including as a full member, represents a historic missed opportunity for both Türkiye and Europe, arguing that deeper cooperation could have delivered far-reaching strategic gains. Describing the ties between the EU and Türkiye as "historic," he said the two sides complement one another structurally.
