BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — Following the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels, French leader Francois Hollande said that Turkey had to fulfill 72 requirements for the visa-free regime with the EU to be introduced by June.
"Out of the 72 conditions referred to by the French president, Ankara performed about 30," the source told RIA Novosti.
Turkey is not an EU member but was officially recognized as a candidate for full EU membership in 1999. Despite negotiations over Turkey's EU membership being first initiated in 2005, they repeatedly became deadlocked and only restarted late last year when Ankara promised to help Europe cope with migrant crisis.
The 28-member bloc and Turkey reached a preliminary deal at a March 7 summit, under which Ankara pledged to stem the flow of Syrian refugees to the European Union in exchange for $3.3 billion and the fast-tracking of Turkey's EU membership bid.
