Brussels, 19/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - At a press conference on Sunday 18 October, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that five negotiation chapters with the EU could be opened, according to his staff.
The European Council said on Friday 16 October that it was ready to boost its relations with Turkey, and it stated that the accession process should be relaunched in order to move forwards in the negotiations in line with the Council conclusions and negotiation framework on this issue.
“We assessed efforts on Chapters 15 (energy), 17 (economic and monetary policy), 23 (judicial apparatus and fundamental rights), 24 (freedom, security and justice), and 31 (foreign, security and defence policy) (…) I particularly asked for the support of Germany, France, the UK and Spain”, Erdogan said at a press conference with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel.
At a press conference with Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (see other article), Merkel said that Germany was “ready to open Chapter 17 this year, and to make preparations for Chapters 23 and 24”. “We can speak about the details”, she added. In May, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said that Chapter 17 could be opened quickly (see EUROPE 11316). The opening of any chapter is decided unanimously by all 28 EU member states. Chapters 23 and 24 are still being unilaterally blocked by Cyprus, and on 12 October, Cyprus' Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides said that Nicosia would not consent to opening Chapters 23 and 24 for as long as Turkey did not fulfil its obligations on Cyprus. Chapters 15 and 31 are also being blocked by Cyprus.
Although Merkel said in a television interview on 7 October that she was opposed to Turkey's EU accession, when there on the ground, she said that “Turkey's full accession was an open question”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)