The German government does not expect Turks to get
visa-free entry into the European Union before 2017 because Ankara will not
fulfil the conditions for that by the end of this year, newspaper Bild cited
sources in Berlin as saying on Monday.
Turkey and the EU have been discussing visa
liberalisation since 2013 and agreed in March to press ahead with it as part of
a deal to stop the flow of illegal migrants from Turkey to the EU. EU officials
and diplomats say the EU is set to miss an end-June deadline due to a dispute
over Turkish anti-terrorism law.
A spokeswoman for the German
government could not immediately comment on the report.
Turkey's government says it has
already met the EU's criteria for visa-free travel.
A Forsa poll for German newspaper Handelsblatt showed
that almost two-thirds of Germans disagree with the EU-Turkey deal that
Chancellor Angela Merkel spearheaded efforts to secure as her popularity waned
due to her liberal migrant policy.
Asked in a Forsa poll for German
newspaper Handelsblatt "Do you think Merkel's Turkey politics are
right?" 59 percent said 'no' while 31 percent
said 'yes'.
The survey showed that 44 percent of Germans want
Merkel to remain chancellor after a 2017 national election while 47 percent do
not.
While some politicians have suggested the influx of
migrants could be a solution to a skilled labor shortage in Germany, most
Germans are not convinced: asked whether they thought the majority of refugees
could be integrated into the German labor market, 56 percent said 'no' and 38
percent 'yes'.
The poll of 1,002 people was carried out on May 17-18.
(Reporting by Michelle Martin;
Editing by Toby Chopra)
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