Brussels, 03/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - Turkey's European affairs minister Volkan Bozkir has announced that his government will present an action plan on Wednesday 9 December to respond to European expectations on the management of migration flows.
“The council of ministers will meet on Monday (7 December) and the reform action group will meet to discuss what was agreed” at the joint EU-Turkey summit on 29 November (see EUROPE 11441), and “on Wednesday (9 December), we will announce the six-month action plan and the government's timetable for achieving the promised reforms”, Bozkir said at a joint press conference with the European commissioner for accession negotiations Johannes Hahn on Thursday 3 December. These reforms will affect the judicial system so as to ensure better democratisation of life in Turkey, and to respond to the 72 criteria to be fulfilled in order to obtain visa liberalisation, Hahn said.
Turkeys' prime minster Ahmet Davutoglu is expected in Brussels again on 17 December. A discussion with the European Commission has been planned to review the latest developments in the migration crisis.
During their meeting, Bozkir and Hahn also discussed Turkey's EU accession process. On 14 December the second negotiation chapter in five years will be opened (Chapter 17 on economic and monetary policy). According to Bozkir, this will be the opportunity to give “momentum and energy to continue” the accession process.
The Commission and Turkey will also start working on several other chapters. Hahn said that he had discussed Chapter 15 (energy), 23 (fundamental rights and the judicial apparatus), 24 (security, freedom and justice) and 26 (education) with Bozkir. Chapter 31 is also among the chapters on which the Commission now intends to work.
These five chapters are currently being blocked by Cyprus. “We will start working on the other important chapters. We will finalise the work” and thus “when the political obstacles in the region are lifted, we will be ready. We will not lose any more time”, said Bozkir. At the same time, Hahn said he was optimistic about a solution for the division of the island of Cyprus.
Hahn nevertheless underlined the EU's concerns about the independence of justice and the freedom of expression in Turkey. Several journalists have recently been arrested. He also stressed the importance of the peace process with the Kurds.
As far as the economy is concerned, Bozkir underlined the review of the customs union - with formal negotiations possibly to be launched at the end of 2016. In his view, while the current volume of trade stands at €150 billion, a revised customs union (which would include agriculture, services and public procurement) would enable the volume to be doubled - in other words, up to €300 billion. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)