Brussels, 19/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - As we announced (see EUROPE 9806), the EU and Turkey decided, on Friday 19 December, to open accession negotiations on two new chapters: free movement of capital and information society/media. This will take the number of chapters on which talks have begun to 10 (out of a total of 35). Hitherto, only one chapter (science/research) has been provisionally closed. New French Secretary of State for European Affairs Bruno Le Maire, who chaired Friday's ministerial accession conference, welcomed this “real success”. On behalf of the EU, he noted Turkey's growing “strategic importance” in regions such as the Middle East and the Caucasus, and highlighted that resolution of the Cypriot issue would mean that negotiation could resume on several chapters, including those that have been deadlocked since December 2006 because of Turkey's failure to implement the additional protocol of the Ankara Agreement. However, when responding to questions as the representative of France (which is opposed to Turkish member ship), Le Maire reiterated that the final outcome of negotiations could not be prejudged and that full accession was not the only possible outcome.
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn also welcomed the opening of the two chapters which, he said, demonstrated the European Union's clear commitment towards Turkey. He called on Turkey to increase the speed of reform, particularly on fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, because these were the reforms that would determine the speed of negotiations. 2009 could be a milestone for Turkey on its way to the Union, Rehn said. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan regretted that it was not possible to make progress on the dozen chapters on which Commission screening was completed in 2006 and which have been on the Council's table for some time, without being put to Turkish negotiators. He repeated his government's determination to continue the reforms and accession preparations with a view to achieving “our common objective” of “full accession”. “We expect the EU to meet its commitments and the accession process to move along as planned, without any artificial obstacles,” he said. He hoped, too, that the EU would be able to speed up negotiations under the Czech Presidency in the first half of 2009.
At this point, it remains difficult to predict the chapters where progress could be made in the course of the first six months of the year. European diplomats very close to the matter do not even rule out the possibility of no new chapters being opened in the first half of the year, a state of affairs that would, clearly, be “politically serious”. The situation is very complex. Several chapters (energy, education/culture, and others) are technically ready, but cannot be opened because they are being blocked by member stares for political reasons. To these chapters must be added the eight which have been formally frozen since December 2006 by virtue of Turkey's failure to implement the Ankara protocol on the customs union (this decision is to be re-assessed in December 2009, in the light of a Commission report). Then, France is against the opening of five other chapters because they prepare the way only for the full accession of Turkey, which Paris opposes. A number of chapters (social policy and employment, competition, taxation, environment, etc) will come into the frame to be opened in 2009, on condition that Turkey comes up to the opening benchmarks set by member states.
Thus, on Friday, Commissioner Rehn called on Turkey to get down to work without delay on these criteria, which would mean for the social policy/employment chapter, for example, that trade union rights would have to be increased. (H.B./transl.rt)