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Turkey won’t be ready for EU membership for ten years or more, Politico informs citing the interview of the President of the European Commission published in German paper Handelsblatt on Wednesday.
“Turkey is currently not ready for accession,” Jean-Claude Juncker told German paper:  “I think that won’t be the case in 10 years either,” the paper quotes the president.

As reported earlier Ankara made unfreezing its EU accession process one element of a deal to take back migrants and refugees from Europe, which EU leaders hope to finalize at a summit on Thursday and Friday.  A draft document to be discussed with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu at the summit, promises only to open new areas of negotiation on Turkish membership.

Juncker said that he is “cautiously optimistic” a binding deal will be reached at the summit. However, Turkey’s attempt to unfreeze its EU membership application is a major sticking point.

The source reminds that leaders, such as European Parliament President Martin Schulz have said the refugee deal and Turkey’s EU aspirations must be kept separate. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in January, before the current deal was put on the table, that it is “not realistic” to give a time-frame for when Turkey can expect to join.