Eurocommissaris Füle (uitbreiding en buurlanden) praat in Turkije over stand van zaken hervormingen (en)

On 15 and 16 March EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle will pay an official visit to Turkey. During his stay he will have meetings with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis, and Vice-Prime Minister Ali Babacan.

Before his departure Commissioner Füle underlined: “I am confident that at the end of the process it will be a new, modern and reformed Turkey whose accession to the EU will be to the benefit of both the EU and Turkey”.

In Ankara the Commissioner will also participate in a meeting with the EU Harmonisation Committee of the Grand National Assembly, chaired by Mr. Yasar Yakis, President of the EU Harmonisation Committee, with the participation of Mr. Murat Mercan, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and in a meeting with the President of the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Rifaat Hisarciklioglu.

In Istanbul Commissioner Štefan Füle will meet the Greek Orthodox Patriarch.

Background

An Association Agreement with Turkey was signed in 1963, already mentioning the prospect of Turkey's accession, and a number of decisions of the European Council as well as resolutions of Parliament made clear that Turkey can become member of the European Union.

Since 1999 Turkey 'candidate country' status was granted by Helsinki European Council.

Accession negotiations started in October 2005 - on the basis of a Negotiating Framework which sets accession as a "shared objective''

Turkey is member of key European structures such as the Council of Europe, the first Europe-wide organisation and watchdog of European values since 1949, or such as NATO, Europe's main defence organisation, since 1952.