Monday, 23 February 2009Turkish State Minister and Chief Negotiator for EU talks Egemen Bagis said on Sunday that the recent decision taken by European Court of Justice on the visa requirements of Turkish nationals planning to enter the European Union (EU) member states to provide service, showed the importance and power of individual efforts.
Replying to questions at a gathering in capital Ankara, Bagis said that implementation of the decision by sub-courts of EU-member states should be monitored.
"Both Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Turkey's Secretariat General for EU Affairs are closely following the developments. I believe the significance of this decision is that it shows how important and powerful individual efforts are," Bagis said.
A Turkish lorry driver, Mehmet Soysal, filed a case with a Berlin State court in 2007 asking for the cancellation of a visa requirement from Turks.
The Berlin court then asked the ECJ to rule on whether Article 41 of the Additional Protocol could be applied to Germany's demands of Schengen visas from Turkish drivers working internationally.
The German court also requested from the ECJ, in the case the ECJ ruled that visas may not be required from Turkish lorry drivers, to explain if the decision entitles all Turks to enter Germany without visas.
On February 19, 2009, ECJ ruled that visas should not be required from Turkish nationals who were planning to enter EU-member states to provide service.
In a decision sent to a German court, the ECJ said that EU can not require visas from Turkish nationals based on Article 41 of an Additional Protocol signed by Turkey and the European Economic Community on November 23, 1970.
ECJ said, "at the time of the entry into force of the Additional Protocol with regard to the Federal Republic of Germany, namely 1 January 1973, Turkish nationals such as the appellants in the main proceedings, engaged in the provision of services in Germany in the international transport of goods by road on behalf of a Turkish undertaking, had the right to enter German territory for those purposes without first having to obtain a visa." |
Monday, 23 February 2009
ANKARA (A.A)
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