Ankara hosts senior EU delegation for wide-ranging talks
ANKARA
From right to left- Kaja Kallas, Marta Kos and Magnus Brunner at the meeting of the College of the European Commissioners in the Berlaymont the headquarters of the European Commission an institution of the European Union in Brussels in Belgium on 15th 2025. (AFP)
A senior European Union delegation is visiting Türkiye on June 29-30 for talks expected to cover the accession process, visas, the customs union, migration, and regional developments ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, and Internal Affairs and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner are due to meet Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan during the visit, the European External Action Service (EEAS) said.
The visit will take place ahead of the NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara on July 7-8.
The EEAS said the talks would provide an opportunity to review EU-Türkiye relations in the context of Türkiye’s status as both a candidate country and a NATO ally.
The sides are also expected to discuss shared challenges in an increasingly unstable geopolitical environment and explore new areas of cooperation, it said.
The visit comes in the final days of Greek Cyprus’ rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, which ends on June 30.
The joint visit by Kallas, Kos, and Brunner is seen in Ankara as a sign that Brussels wants to give new momentum to dialogue with Türkiye across several files.
Kos is also expected to hold talks with Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, and Trade Minister Ömer Bolat.
Ankara is expected to repeat its call for a fair and merit-based approach to Türkiye’s EU accession process after negotiations effectively stalled in 2018.
Visa issues are also expected to be high on the agenda. Türkiye wants wider facilitation measures for Turkish citizens until visa liberalization is achieved, while the EU is expected to emphasize work on the remaining criteria for visa-free travel.
Fidan is also expected to underline Ankara’s call for negotiations to begin on updating the customs union, a long-standing demand of Türkiye and the Turkish business community.
The European Commission supports the modernization of the customs union in principle but has not received a mandate from member states to launch formal negotiations. Technical work is continuing.
Migration is another key issue, with Ankara seeking cooperation based on fair responsibility and burden sharing under changing regional conditions.
Regional security issues directly affecting both Türkiye and the EU are also expected to be discussed, including efforts to support stability in nearby regions.
Connectivity, the EU’s “Made in EU” discussions, and the bloc’s defense-focused Security Action for Europe, or SAFE, instrument are also among topics likely to be raised.
Türkiye has argued that its role as a candidate country, NATO ally, and major defense industry actor should be taken into account in Europe’s new security and defense initiatives.
Kallas, European Council President Antonio Costa, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are also expected to attend the NATO summit in Ankara, where further high-level EU-Türkiye contacts are considered likely.