European lawmakers are to discuss reports from the European Commission and the European Parliament on progress in EU-Turkey relations in 2019 and 2020 before voting on a resolution that will determine the next steps after Ankara's membership talks were frozen in June 2018.

The European People's Party (EPP) faction said it believed the accession negotiations with Turkey should be officially suspended unless the current negative trend is urgently and consistently reversed.

As long as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to provoke the EU and its member states, violate the territorial integrity of Greece and Cyprus and take Turkey away from European standards, the rule of law and fundamental human rights, there is no prospect for improving relations, the EPP spokesman said.