Violeta Bulc, Commissioner for Transport Policy, and Mehmet Cahit Turhan, Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, signed an agreement on the financing of a railway construction project between Halkalı (Turkey) and Kapıkule (Bulgaria) during the EU-Turkey High Level Economic Dialogue in Istanbul on Thursday 28 February.
The total investment costs for this project amount to €1 billion and the European Union will put €275 million on the table. "This is the largest investment of the EU in our neighbourhood", Bulc said at the signing ceremony. These funds will be invested through pre-accession assistance for the period 2014-2020.
The links will cover both passenger and freight transport between the two points and the expected benefits for consumers and freight operators could amount to €1.6 billion. In addition to the benefits related to trade between the EU and Asia, Ms Bulc believes that this rail link will help to accelerate decarbonisation, "improve road safety and take a step forward towards 'vision 0' [ending fatal road accidents]".
In addition, during the economic dialogue, Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen reiterated the EU's position. "It is clear that we have problems. There are economic challenges, but there are also political challenges. We cannot ignore these issues that we need to resolve", he explained, adding that trust between the two partners must be rebuilt.
The Vice-President expressed the wish that, within the next 3 years, Turkey would benefit from visa liberalisation, that there would be a modernisation of the Customs Union and that "the citizens of the EU and Turkey would find that our relationship is strongly value-based".
Mr Katainen recalled that the Commission had not received the mandate to negotiate the modernisation of the Customs Union due to opposition from Member States related to the human rights situation in Turkey. He stressed the situation in the country, calling for respect for civil liberties and freedom of the press. The vice-president also denounced the ban on access to the press conference room for some European media journalists, officially because their accreditations had not been renewed. For the Turkish Minister of Finance and Treasury, Berat Albayrak, "over the past 15 years, Turkey has strengthened its democracy".
However, the difficult situation in Turkey does not prevent further cooperation. "We appreciate that Turkey brings peace and stabilises the security situation in Turkey and its neighbourhood. Europe benefits from Turkey's decisive policy in terms of security, counter-terrorism and migration", said Mr Katainen. According to him, the economy, the environment, transport and energy are also subjects of common interest. (Camille-Cerise Gessant and Lucas Tripoteau)