Brussels, 09/02/2021 (Agence Europe) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced during a video conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday, 8 February, that he was hoping for a summit with EU leaders in the first half of 2021 to ease tensions. At the beginning of the year, he had explained that he wanted to turn the page with the EU (see EUROPE 12633/20). During his conversation with Mrs Merkel, the Turkish president reportedly hoped for a “positive agenda” with the European Union. Last October, the European Council had proposed such an agenda with Turkey, if it renounced its illegal activities in the eastern Mediterranean (see EUROPE 12572/1). For its part, the German Chancellery clarified that Mrs Merkel had welcomed “the most recent positive signals and developments in the eastern Mediterranean”. “Mrs Merkel stressed that it was now important to make progress in the dialogue”, according to the Chancellery. (CG)