(AFP File Photo)
AFP- The European Union agreed Tuesday to restart membership talks with Turkey next month, ending a three-year freeze despite Ankara’s crackdown on protests this year.
EU European and foreign affairs ministers meeting in Luxembourg said talks would resume in a fortnight, with an inter-governmental conference to be held in Brussels on 5 November.
Keen to breathe new life into Ankara’s long-stalled effort to prise open the EU door, the 28-nation bloc agreed to the resumption in principle in June, but then postponed talks in protest over Turkey’s spring crackdown.
The November negotiations will focus on regional development, one of 35 chapters or sets of EU rules and standards that candidate states must satisfy before winning entry to the club.
In Brussels, the bloc’s Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele welcomed the resumption of talks.
“Accession negotiations need to regain momentum, respecting the EU’s commitments and established conditionality,” he said in a statement.
“I hope more chapters will follow.”
Despite criticism from some that the bloc has grown too big too quickly, Fuele has hailed “the transformative power” of the enlargement process.
He says the many benchmarks set so a country can join helped bring the troubled Balkans region into the democratic fold and this year led to a historic accord between Serbia and Kosovo.
Fuele is eager for talks to start soon with Turkey on two other chapters, one on fundamental freedoms and the other on the rule of law.
Turkey began accession talks with the EU as far back as 2005, the same time as Croatia which this year became the bloc’s 28th member.
But the talks have broken down because of Turkey’s long-standing territorial dispute with Cyprus, a member of the bloc since 2004, as well as opposition from major powers France and Germany.
The chapter on regional development — Chapter 22 – will be the 14th of 35 opened with Turkey. A country needs to successfully close negotiations on all 35 before joining the EU.
So far Turkey has closed only one chapter — chapter 25 on science and research. And Cyprus has blocked eight chapters because of Ankara’s refusal to open sea and air ports to Cyprus.
A fresh delay in opening Chapter 22 would have strengthened doubts about whether the predominantly Muslim country of 76 million people will ever be admitted to the European club.
