President of the European Commission (EC), Jean-Claude Juncker urged the Turkish authorities not to intimidate the EU with threats in order to achieve the desired result in the negotiations on the liberalization of the visa regime.

In early May, the European Commission (EC) has suggested European Parliament (EP) and the EU Council to lift visa limits for citizens of Turkey if Ankara satisfies the remaining conditions for visa abolition until the end of June. These included measures for prevention of corruption, negotiations on an operational agreement with Europol, judicial cooperation with all member countries, revision of the legislation on fight against terrorism.

“As far as the deal with Turkey is concerned, I am very confident that this deal will produce effects. It is already producing effects. We have negotiated with our Turkish partner 72 conditions, benchmarks. This was a negotiation by two parties, not only benchmarks having been imposed by the European Union. Five out of these 72 were missing, two have been achieved in the last days. As far as the benchmark concerning the anti-terror legislation, we do expect that Turkey will stick to its commitments. And threats are not the best diplomatic instrument you can use so one should stop to use them, because they will produce no effect whatsoever”, Juncker  told journalists before the G7 Summit in Brussels on Thursday, Europa.eu reported.

Earlier, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan threatened the EU with withdrawal from the migration agreements, if the European Union fails to provide the citizens of his country with visa-free regime. Erdogan also stated that Turkey will not revise its anti-terrorism legislation and accused the EU of duplicity.

The official spokesperson of the European Parliament president Martin Schulz told RIA Novosti that the EP will start the legislative process on the issue of visa-free travel for Turkish citizens only after Ankara fulfills all requirements of the EU connected with it without exception.