Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ANKARA: Chief Negotiator Needed for Turkey's EU Negotiations

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ANKARA: Chief Negotiator Needed for Turkey's EU Negotiations

    Zaman Online, Turkey
    Feb 28 2005

    Chief Negotiator Needed for Turkey's EU Negotiations
    By Suleyman Kurt
    Published: Monday 28, 2005
    zaman.com


    Ankara has been accused of not doing its homework and slowing down
    the reform process, but insists that its work is on schedule.

    Turkey has succeeded in making a significant number of political
    reforms in order to meet the Copenhagen Criteria over the past two
    years, but has not yet determined who its chief negotiator will be
    and has not made structural changes to meet the economic criteria
    required in the process of joining the European Union (EU) since the
    last EU summit on December 17, 2004. Documents such as the Accession
    Partnership Document, the Frame Text, and the Political and Cultural
    Dialogue Document must be prepared before negotiations begin.

    Ankara says the work is underway and that there are no delays in the
    process. The government is expected to announce its chief negotiator
    within the week and that work will subsequently speed up.

    Turkey has been focused on naming its negotiation delegate and on the
    adaptation protocol for October 3rd when negotiations begin, but has
    not registered much progress in the political arena over the last few
    months. EU leaders set forth their expectation of a "sustainable
    political reform process" when they gave Turkey a start date for
    negotiations at the December 17th summit in Brussels. EU Commission
    officials repeat concerns that Turkey has not met the market economy
    standards. In this field, if the required structural arrangements are
    not achieved in this area, the start of negotiations on economic
    topics will be jeopardized. The EU objects to the structures of the
    Central Bank and public banks. In addition, it is requiring that
    Turkey meet the provisions of the Customs Union.

    The approval of the Accession Partnership Document, the Frame Text,
    and the Political and Cultural Dialogue Document has been stretched
    out to the second half of 2005. In addition to concerns about the
    delay, Ankara is worried a out the content of these documents. The
    possible inclusion of certain terms will create difficulties for
    Ankara, specifically defining Alevi and Kurdish groups as minorities
    and statements about Cyprus and Armenia. Turkish diplomats are trying
    to ensure that these documents are flawless. The Turkish public has
    shared the EU's interest in Ankara's choice for chief negotiator,
    which will be announced before the "EU-Turkey Troika Meeting" on
    March 7th.
Working...
X