Commission president invites Boris Johnson to Brussels for reality check
Jean-Claude Juncker also reminded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that ‘threats are not the best diplomatic instrument.’
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday he’d like Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson to visit Brussels for some fact-checking ahead of Britain’s EU referendum.
Juncker said the former London mayor could find out “if everything he is telling the British people is in line with reality — I do not think so.”
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Junker, who spoke to reporters in Japan ahead of the G-7 summit, also responded to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s comments on Tuesday that Ankara would not honor the refugee deal with the EU unless the bloc granted the country visa-free travel without additional conditions.
“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,” Juncker said. “As far as the benchmark concerning the anti-terror legislation, we do expect that Turkey will stick to its commitments,” Junker said.
He warned Erdoğan that “threats are not the best diplomatic instrument you can use — so one should stop to use them, because they will produce no effect whatsoever.”
The EU had agreed to lift visa requirements in return for Turkey’s efforts to prevent migrants from traveling to Europe from its shores and in exchange for taking back some refugees who have already reached Greece.
However, visa liberalization has stalled because Turkey has not fulfilled several preconditions, in particular the revision of its anti-terrorism legislation. The EU believes Turkey is using it to silence dissent.