Brussels, 26/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz appealed to the EU on Tuesday so that it might approve, at the Copenhagen European Council in December, a timetable with a view to opening accession negotiations with his country as soon as possible. The EU must accelerate Turkey's membership process as, although the Council of Helsinki in December 1999 officially granted Turkey candidate country status authorised to open accession negotiations as soon as the political criteria have been met, "some people in Turkey have doubts and suspicions in this respect and consider that, even if Turkey were to fulfil the political criteria, the Union could create new problems" for delaying or preventing the start of talks, warned Mr Yilmaz during a seminar organised in Brussels on Tuesday by the Union of Chambers of Commerce in Turkey. He said he hoped this kind of suspicion is not justified and that the EU would take the necessary decisions, at the European Council in Copenhagen, to accelerate and intensify the process.
Earlier, when speaking to journalists, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister had explained that the Turkish government was currently finalising work on several major legal texts (including on the abolition of the death penalty and the use of the Kurdish language) with a view to meeting the political criteria for membership. The aim of the Turkish government is to put these texts to the Parliament before September, so that the results may be forwarded to the European Commission before it has concluded drafting its next regular report on Turkey, the publication of which (with those of other candidate countries) is scheduled for mid-October. Mr Yilmaz also felt that, if the Fifteen were effectively to approve, in Copenhagen, a timetable for opening talks, Turkey could become a member of the EU in 2007 and 2008, together with Romania and Bulgaria. We recall that the conclusions of the European Council of Seville affirm new decisions could be taken in Copenhagen regarding the next stage in Turkey's candidature, given the evolution of the situation between the European Councils of Seville and Copenhagen on the basis of the regular report that the Commission will present in October 2002.
During the same seminar, the Vice-President of the European Commission, Loyola de Palacio, restated the Commission's determination to give maximum support to the political and economic reforms in Turkey, "as it has done, and as it always does, for other candidate countries". At the present time, it is, however, too early to say whether, for the European Commission, the reforms undertaken so far are satisfactory or not, and it will be necessary to wait for the regular October report. Ms de Palacio (responsible for transport and energy policy) also granted special importance to the very important strategic role that Turkey will be able to play in the future in the energy sector (mainly as a transit country for oil and natural gas from the Caspian Sea towards European markets). Regarding transport, she expressed "concern" about the low level of maritime safety in Turkey, the Bosphoros Straits being the straits that are the most used by oil tankers world-wide. "I trust that Turkey will adopt EU norms and regulations as soon as possible in this very important field", she said.