Luxembourg  - It is illegal to make Turkish lorry drivers apply for visas if they want to perform short-term services in the European Union, the EU's top court ruled on Thursday.

The case concerns Turkish truckers Mehmet Soysal and Ibrahim Savatli, who were employed by a Turkish contractor to drive German-owned trucks from Turkey to Germany.

In 2001 the German authorities refused to grant them visas - a decision the two men challenged in court.

The European Court of Justice ruled that Germany was wrong to demand visas from the two men, as the current agreement between Turkey and the EU forbids it.

The agreement means that EU members cannot create "a requirement that Turkish nationals must have a visa to enter the territory of an (EU) state in order to provide services there on behalf of an undertaking established in Turkey," the court ruled. (dpa)