Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Joint Readmission Committee on a Decision of the Joint Readmission Committee on implementing arrangements for the application of Articles 4 and 6 of the Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Turkey on the readmission of persons residing without authorisation as of 1 June 2016

The Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Turkey on readmission of persons residing without authorisation, (hereinafter: the "Agreement") was concluded by the Council Decision 2014/252/EU and entered into force on 1 October 2014. In accordance with Article 24(3) of the Agreement the provisions related to readmission of third country nationals and stateless persons, as established by Articles 4 and 6 of the Agreement will become applicable three years after the entry into force of the Agreement, i.e. as of 1 October 2017.

On 29 November 2015, following the EU-Turkey Summit, the Union and Turkey expressed their political agreement "that the EU-Turkey readmission agreement will become fully applicable from June 2016 in order for the Commission to be able to present its third progress report in autumn 2016 with a view to completing the visa liberalisation process i.e. the lifting of visa requirements for Turkish citizens in the Schengen zone by October 2016 once the requirements of the Roadmap are met".

The Agreement establishes a Joint Readmission Committee to, inter alia, monitor and facilitate the application of the Agreement and to decide on the necessary implementing arrangements. Following the political statement on 29 November 2015, at the second meeting of the Joint Readmission Committee held on 19 January 2016, the EU and Turkey discussed the possibility for the Joint Readmission Committee to take a Decision on the necessary implementing arrangements in order to advance the applicability of the obligations under Articles 4 and 6 of the Agreement as of 1 June 2016. A draft Decision of the Joint Readmission Committee to that effect is annexed to this proposal.

EUR-Lex: COM(2016)72: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2016:072:FIN

ESO: Background Information: International Summit: Meeting of the EU heads of state or government with Turkey, Brussels, 29 November 2015 http://www.europeansources.info/record/international-summit-meeting-of-the-eu-heads-of-state-or-government-with-turkey-brussels-29-november-2015/

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