Salience, path dependency and the coalition between the European Commission and the Danish Council Presidency: Why the EU opened a visa liberalisation process with Turkey

In June 2012 the European Commission received the backing of the member states to launch a visa liberalisation process with Turkey in exchange for a readmission agreement that obliges Ankara to take back illegal immigrants who passed through Turkey as a transit country. This is a remarkable development in view of the earlier rejection by several member states of the perspective of a visa free travel for Turkish citizens. My process tracing analysis suggests that the key to explaining this development is the argumentative strength of the European Commission, stemming from the necessity of cooperation with Turkey on migration and the norms of procedures set in previous readmission negotiations, as well as the coalition between the Commission and the Danish Council Presidency. Thus, this article contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of Turkey’s EU accession process, the role of the Commission in the EU’s visa policy, and the influence of Council Presidencies.