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		</div><p>European Union nations have agreed to make it easier to suspend its visa waiver programmes with some countries, just as Turkey is trying to secure visa-free travel for its citizens.<br />
EU interior and migration ministers sealed an agreement on the emergency brake system during talks in Brussels.<br />
The so-called suspension mechanism would come into play to ensure security and if a country fails to respect its obligations. It is aimed at new visa waiver programmes in the works for Georgia, Ukraine, Kosovo and Turkey.</p>
<p>The waivers would grant citizens of the four visa-free travel in Europe for business or leisure purposes for up to 90 days. But many European states are concerned by the prospect of opening the EU&#8217;s gates wider at a time when the bloc is struggling to cope with hundreds of thousands of refugees.</p>
<p>French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said: &#8220;We can&#8217;t allow visa liberalisation to happen without any precautions, without a managed calendar or in a rush, as some want to impose on us. So we have taken an extremely firm position.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ministers have been at pains to point out that the mechanism applies to all visa waiver countries so Turkey does not feel targeted.</p>
<p>The EU has offered Turkey a visa waiver as an incentive &#8211; along with up to €6bn for Syrian refugees and fast-track EU membership talks &#8211; to get it to stop migrants leaving for Europe and to take back the thousands who have arrived in Greece from Turkey since March 20.</p>
<p>Dutch migration minister Klaas Dijkhoff, who chaired the meeting, said: &#8220;Visa liberalisation has great advantages for the EU and third countries. Yet we need an emergency brake for all visa-free counties to make sure that visa liberalisation cannot be abused.&#8221;</p>
<p>To address concerns, the emergency brake provides more grounds for suspending the visa waiver, notably if a country fails to readmit people who left its territory but are not allowed to stay in Europe.</p>
<p>Permanent monitoring would be put in place to ensure compliance and the respect of the original criteria sought by the EU for the visa-free travel &#8211; 72 conditions in Turkey&#8217;s case.</p>
<p>A suspension would also be much faster to put into action because the threshold for halting visa waivers would be lower, Mr Dijkhoff said.</p>
<p>EU legislators must endorse the scheme for it to come into force.</p>
<p>While the number of migrants arriving in the Greek islands has dropped significantly since the agreement between Turkey and the EU came into effect, the EU believes Ankara must do more.</p>
<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s still work to be done when it comes to processing people and giving them an individual assessment of their claim to asylum, and then getting people readmitted to Turkey,&#8221; said Mr Dijkhoff.</p>
<p>Under the migration agreement, the EU pledged to grant a visa waiver to Turkey by June 30, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected an EU demand to narrow the scope of Turkey&#8217;s anti-terror laws to end crackdowns on journalists and dissenters.</p>
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