Türkiye has launched a new effort to draft its personal data protection legislation to better align with European standards, taking a tangible step toward meeting the remaining criteria for visa-free travel to the European Union (EU), daily Hürriyet reported on Oct. 14.
The move follows an interministerial initiative launched in August to remove the outstanding obstacles to visa liberalization, with Ankara now preparing to enter technical talks with the European Commission on one of the six remaining benchmarks.
A revised draft of the legislation has been prepared, and the process has reached the stage of technical consultations with the European Commission.
Officials from relevant Turkish ministries and the EU executive body are expected to meet in the near future, the report said.
The initiative is part of a new strategic approach announced in August by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, aimed at overcoming the obstacles preventing Türkiye from securing visa-free access to the bloc.
The upcoming talks are expected to mark one of the first steps toward fulfilling the relevant benchmark and help shape the subsequent stages of the process.
The European Commission’s assessment of whether the proposed changes have the potential to meet EU expectations will be crucial in determining how the process moves forward.
The six outstanding benchmarks include amending counterterrorism legislation, concluding an agreement with Europol, taking further steps to combat corruption, establishing judicial cooperation with all EU member states, fully implementing all provisions of the Readmission Agreement, and aligning personal data protection legislation with European standards.
The Visa Liberalization Dialogue between Türkiye and the EU was launched on Dec. 16, 2013. Türkiye met 65 of the 72 benchmarks within the first three years of the process. The number of outstanding criteria fell to six in 2018, when Ankara fulfilled one additional requirement.
