Plans to give visa-free travel to Europe for 75million people from Turkey are set to be given the go-ahead this week despite Ankara not fulfilling all of its criteria.

The European Commission is expected to recommend the move on Wednesday despite deep public misgivings in some countries.

In an apparent panic over attempts to tackle the migrant crisis, it has asked EU governments and the European Parliament to approve the decision by the end of June.

But Turkey has not yet fully complied with an agreement to introduce 72 pieces of legislation to qualify for the waiver scheme.

Women and children at a makeshift camp for migrants and refugees at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece. Many thousands of migrants remain at the border with Macedonia, hoping that the border crossing will reopen, allowing them to move north into central Europe

An EU source told EUobserver: 'They [the commission] will issue a positive recommendation.

'But it remains to be seen what kind of legal formulas and tricks they will use to justify the move.'

Under the visa proposals, tourists from Turkey will be able to move freely within the 26-member Schengen zone for up to three months.

In return, Turkey has agreed to take back one Syrian migrant who crosses to Greece in exchange for a Syrian in one of its refugee camps.

The move comes as Germany and other EU countries plan to ask the EU Commission for an extension of border controls within the Schengen zone for another six months, because they fear a new wave of migrants.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maizere's spokesman says a letter is being sent on Monday asking for an extension of the controls on the German-Austrian border, which were implemented last year when thousands of migrants crossed into Germany daily.

De Maizere has expressed concern before that an increasing number of migrants will try to reach Europe this summer by crossing the Mediterranean Sea from lawless Lib

Sinan Ulgen, the head of the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics, said Turkey's visa deal was a 'cornerstone' of the migrant agreement, but warned that Ankara had threatened to stop migrant readmissions unless it was granted the travel perks.

Mohammoud Attaki, from Damascus, Syria, shaves his beard on the platform of a train station which was turned into a makeshift camp crowded by migrants at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece

Among the criteria Turkey is expected to meet is a revision of anti-terror laws to protect minority rights and starting judicial cooperation with Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognise as a state.

Ulgen told EUobserver that those reforms would be the hardest 'because it comes at a time when Turkey is facing a wave of terrorist attacks by the PKK and Islamic State.'

A senior EU official familiar with the negotiations insisted that Europe had not 'lowered our standards', adding that 'Turkey had raised its game'.

He was seeking to explain how the EU executive could certify compliance after telling lawmakers just two weeks ago that Ankara had met fewer than half the so-called benchmarks.

The political reality is that Brussels cannot say 'No' and risk a collapse of a much criticized March 18 EU-Turkey deal that was a turning point in Europe's migration crisis.

It may lack political support to sustain a 'Yes', but the Turkish government won't take 'Later' for an answer.

So in the time-honoured EU manner, the Commission will present a package aimed at offering something for everyone.

The commission recommendation must be approved by a majority of EU states and by MEPs.

Turkey, which has a population of 75 million, has been included as part of a deal brokered by Germany for cooperation in controlling the flow of migrants to Europe.

Migrants line-up for food at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Monday

Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers last year as part of Chancellor Angela Merkel's 'open door' policy, and is keen to curb the flow of migrants.

France and Germany have proposed a new 'emergency brake' that could suspend visa-free travel for countries that no longer meet the specific criteria.

But commission officials have indicated that idea has been rejected.

A senior EU source told the Sunday Times Turkey could threaten to 'open the floodgates' irrespective of any safeguards .

'The threat will always be there, not just regarding visas, but also perhaps in disputes related to human rights or the Kurdish issue,' the diplomat said.

It comes as new figures revealed nearly 90,000 migrants who applied for asylum in Europe in 2015 were unaccompanied children – a four-fold increase from the year before.

Eurostat, the European Commission's official statistics office, said 88, 300 sought refuge last year compared to 23,000 in 2014 and between 11,000 and 13,000 from 2008-2013.