Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the conclusion of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Turkey on the readmission of persons residing without authorisation

The negotiating directives for a European Community – Turkey readmission agreement were adopted by the Council on 28 November 2002. Negotiations were formally opened on 27 May 2005 in Brussels. After the first four negotiations rounds (the fourth one on 7 December 2006), the negotiations restarted in 2009. A new draft text was prepared and transmitted to Turkey on 17 December 2009.

Three further formal negotiation rounds took place on 19 February (Ankara), 19 March (Ankara) and 17 May 2010 (Brussels). An additional meeting between the Chief negotiators was held on 14 January 2011 in Ankara. Those meetings brought the negotiations to the end at the level of Chief Negotiators.

The text was subject to the consultations on both sides. On the EU side, the outcome of the negotiations was endorsed by the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council held on 24 February 2011. After further contacts with Turkey, the agreed text was initialled on 21 June 2012 in Brussels by the representatives of both Parties.

The attached proposal, which constitutes the legal instrument for the conclusion of the readmission agreement, sets out the necessary internal arrangements for the practical application of the Agreement.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)239: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:239:FIN

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