Toetredingsonderhandelingen Kroatië en Macedonië verlopen goed, Turkije lastiger (en)

The Spanish Secretary of State for the EU, Diego López Garrido, spoke today during the plenary session of the European Parliament to give an update on accession negotiations with Croatia, Turkey and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia . “This six-month period will be fundamental for the negotiation process with Croatia. The negotiations have entered their final phase, but there is still considerable work to be done in order to bring them to a successful conclusion”, he said. Out of the 35 chapters of accession negotiations, 28 have been opened, of which 17 have been provisionally closed. The negotiations started in 2005, two years after the Government of Croatia made a formal request for membership. The objective is to conclude the negotiations this year.

Speaking about Turkey, López Garrido stressed that “negotiations have entered a rather more complicated stage, which will require Turkey to redouble its efforts to comply with the conditions set. There are some technically complicated chapters ahead of us”, he said. While he called on the government in Ankara to make progress on the agreed reforms, he also reiterated the commitment of the Spanish Presidency to Turkey's candidacy. “Our position is very clear: let there be no doubt that the objective of our negotiations is Turkey's future entry into the EU”.

Turkey obtained candidate country status in 1999 and membership negotiations began in 2005. Out of the 35 negotiation chapters, 12 have been opened and one provisionally closed. In the case of the FYRM i, the Spanish Secretary of State mentioned the disagreement with Greece, which is being addressed by the United Nations. He said that, although the name issue is not a requirement of Copenhagen, “it is clear that good relations between neighbours are vitally important in the process of building national policy in all states. The EU awarded candidate country status to the FYRM in December 2005. The European Commission has recommended that negotiations be opened, and a decision is being awaited from the European Council.