Ankara, 16/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - Following meetings with Ankara with the Turkish president, prime minister, foreign affairs minister and representatives from the business community and civil society, Romano Prodi informed the Turkish Grand National Assembly in a speech that he was the first president of the European Commission to visit Turkey since Walter Hallstein in 1963 (EU/Turkey Association Agreement which opened the perspective of accession that entered into force in December 1964: Editor's note).
In his speech Mr Prodi was keen to underline the role that Turkey has played in the stability and security of Europe during the cold war, as well as the scale of reforms over recent years. He stressed that "Turkey's prospects for moving even closer to the EU depend, above all, on its own capacity to fulfil the Copenhagen political criteria, not only in law, but also in practice. These criteria were not invented for Turkey, but apply equally to all candidates" EUROPE yesterday p 6 on the subject of the press conference with Mr Erdogan).
The president of the Commission said that he was aware of the "impressive degree of consensus in Turkey in favour of joining the European Union. In fact there seems to be close to unanimous support for the modernisation strategy". But warned that "there are concerns as to how Turkey is perceived within the EU. And it is true that EU-Turkey relations are increasingly a subject of public debate". Mr Prodi also said that, "Contrary to the situation in Turkey, the public opinion in the EU is not unanimous in favouring a Turkish membership. It is in my view important for the political leadership in the EU and in Turkey to recognise and manage this political reality. There are those who are concerned about the religious dimension. Others have raised issues such as the capacity of the Union to integrate a country of the size and with the demography of Turkey, the economic development of Turkey and Turkey's geographical situation. We need to reply to these concerns". In this context the president of the Commission regretted the failure of the IGC, declaring, "The EU's institutional architecture needs to be redesigned, so that our institutions can function more transparently and more effectively. In view of enlargement, these reforms are more important than ever. Turkey, through its participation in the work of the Convention on the future of Europe, has contributed its experience and creativity to this common task". Mr Prodi also spoke to Turkish parliamentarians of "question of full democratic control of the military, including full parliamentary authority over the defence budget".
On the issue of Cyprus Mr Prodi repeated that, "Cyprus will join the EU on 1 May 2004. It would be a source of inspiration for us all if Turkish and Greek Cypriots were able to enter the EU together. We therefore call upon all parties to reengage in the UN led talks without delay. The objective should be to reach a settlement on the basis of the Annan plan in time for a united Cyprus to accede to the European Union on 1 May 2004. Let me assure you that we on our part are ready to assist in finding a speedy settlement. I am convinced that securing a comprehensive settlement by 1 May would be in the best interest not only of all Cypriots but for all of the Eastern Mediterranean. A settlement would also greatly facilitate Turkey's membership aspirations and will clearly influence decisions to be taken in the second half of this year. Let me be clear, this is not a formal condition, but a political reality.".