Brussels, 03/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 2 October, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle reiterated that the EU remains “the benchmark for reform in Turkey (…) to enhance respect for fundamental rights”. He welcomed the reference to the EU's guiding role in Turkey's reforms - a reference which was made by Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayipp Erdogan when announcing the democratisation package (see EUROPE 10933). At the end of his meeting with Turkey's Minister for European Affairs and chief negotiator Egemen Bagis, Füle reiterated the importance of continuing and achieving the reforms with the full participation of all the key actors in Turkey.
Before the meeting, Bagis stressed that this package should “accelerate Turkey's EU accession process”. “We consider the amendments in this package to be even more important than opening chapters to negotiations”, he added, hoping that “the democracy package and the government's determination for the reforms will be reflected positively in the upcoming 2013 progress report” that the European Commission will publish on 16 October. “This is a very reasonable and understandable expectation”, Bagis added, saying that “a critical threshold has been crossed for our democracy and the EU process”.
During the meeting, Füle reiterated that the accession negotiations must pick up momentum and that the official opening of Chapter 22 on regional policy will be an important step (see EUROPE 10874). A decision on opening this chapter could be taken at the General Affairs Council on 22 October but the member states are awaiting the Commission's progress report. Füle said he wanted the dialogue on a visa exemption scheme for the Turkish people to begin quickly, with the signing of an EU-Turkey readmission agreement. (CG/transl.fl)