Brussels, 14/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - Shortly after the signing of the intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco project in Ankara in mid-July (EUROPE 9941), the start of negotiations for Turkey's accession to the Energy Community is, according to the European Commission, an "important stage" in energy cooperation between the EU and Turkey. Like Georgia, Norway and Ukraine before it, Turkey currently has only observer status in the Community, whose members are the EU plus Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Ankara, which pursued active accession negotiations between 2003 and 2005, has never given any official explanation for its refusal to join the Community in 2005, even though it satisfied the conditions for membership at the time. Nonetheless, Turkey is expected to join the Community very soon, along with Moldova, which recently concluded its negotiations, whereas the accession of Ukraine, which has been held up by discussions with the Commission and international financial institutions over the reform of its gas sector, appears to be on ice until the presidential elections of January 2010. This is certainly what Andris Piebalgs is hoping. "Turkey is carrying out fundamental reforms in order to address its huge energy challenge. Turkey is well prepared and has an important role to play in the Energy Community. I hope that the negotiations will proceed swiftly and could be concluded in the coming months", the energy commissioner commented in a press release. Meeting on 9 September, the European and Turkish delegations assessed progress made in the Turkish energy sector and the legislative changes required to be able to implement the treaty instituting the Energy Community. This first round of negotiations also allowed the parties to discuss the requirements with which Turkish energy policy must come into line and to record progress made by Ankara, particularly in the electricity sector. (E.H./transl.fl)