BRUSSELS: The EU is set to give Turkey more time to adhere to its commitments on tax evasion, sources said on Friday, raising concerns that Ankara is being spared the bloc’s blacklist for political reasons.
Ties between the EU and Turkey have been fraught, especially after Ankara pushed gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean last year, infuriating Cyprus and Greece.
However, the tensions have eased in recent weeks with the diplomacy of Germany, which is sensitive to keep Turkey compliant with a migration pact that keeps a tight control on the Turkish border with the EU.
According to several sources, the EU’s 27 member states will next week accept to once again delay the blacklisting of Turkey, which was already given a break a year ago.
Turkey is accused of failing to comply with international standards on the automatic exchange of tax information, a problem in particular for EU countries with a big Turkish diaspora.
The delay, however, could come with an understanding that putting off the decision any further will no longer be tolerated, with a deadline set for later this year.
“It is important to be rigorous and to ensure that countries, where difficulties have been identified, make commitments and fulfil them,” one EU diplomat said.
In this case, “it would have been logical, as it has been in comparable situations in the past”, for Turkey to be added to the list.
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