Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade, Professor Toskay , points to EU’s shortcomings

Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade, Professor Toskay
, points to EU’s shortcomings

First of all, I would like to express my deepest
pleasure to address and take part in such an esteemed group on the
occasion of the meeting, in which the developments towards Turkey’s
full membership in the EU are evaluated and which is held in a
period when relations between Turkey and the European Union have
been on both political and economic agendas.

Since the establishment of the Republican
regime, in line with its objective of reaching the “level of
contemporary civilizations” Turkey has always opted for joining all
the political and security formations established either on the
continent of Europe or in the area in the heart of which Europe is
situated.

With this aim, Turkey has become a member to the
Council of Europe, OECD, and NATO and, shown the same interest to
the European Economic Community, which is the most pretentious form
of integration in Europe, by signing the “Ankara Agreement” in
1963, which started the process of full membership to the
Community.

The Customs Union, which is one of the steps
foreseen in the Ankara Agreement, was established between Turkey
and the EU at the beginning of 1996. Thus, Turkey completed the
regional economic integration with the EU, which has an important
share in the world trade volume, and became a part of the process
of regionalization and globalization efforts that have gained
impetus.

Following the Helsinki Summit, certain concrete
and important steps started to be taken that will accelerate
Turkey’s accession process to the EU. However, despite the great
impetus recently emerged in our relations, Turkey has been put
behind the other candidate countries during the said process.

As a matter of fact, in the Progress Report
prepared by the European Commission on November 13, 2001, it was
suggested that works carried out towards the completion of
pre-accession within a “more intensive strategy of cooperation”
framework continue, instead of commencing the “screening process”
which is a preparation for full membership.

Consequently, we observe that different
mechanisms are being established for Turkey rather than
implementing the main features of “Pre-Accession Strategy”, which
should be equally applied to all candidate countries.

However, our country, as a practical result of
the Customs Union that we have with the EU, is the only candidate
country which implements the EU’s common commercial policy. With
this particular qualification, Turkey is ahead of the other
candidate countries in terms of harmonization with the EU’s
legislation. This point has been confirmed in the Progress Report
that was prepared by the European Commission.

It is known that in the customs unions
established between the partners which have evident differences as
regards with economical development levels, some specific
compensatory mechanisms, such as financial and technical
assistance, have been put into force in order to enhance
competitiveness and increase productivity.

Thus, countries such as Greece, Portugal and
Spain have been granted important amounts of aids from Community
sources following their full membership to the EU.

On the other hand, total amount of the support
received by candidate countries from the EU’s sources by the year
2000 reached 19 billion EUROs. Moreover, the total amount of
financial aids given by the EU to specifically Poland and Hungary
during the last 9 years are twice the amount that have been given
to Turkey during the last 36 years.

These figures reveal that the Customs Union, for
which huge efforts and resources have been spent by Turkey, and the
works carried out towards full membership are not sufficiently
supported by the EU.

It should be noted that, it is of extreme
importance to avoid discrimination in terms of technical and
financial aids to be granted to candidate countries during the
pre-accession period and maintain a certain balance among them.

Turkey has commercially integrated itself with a
significant block in the world economy and trade by establishing a
customs union with the EU, and harmonized its internal market with
international norms, as well as granted to the EU a more
preferential market access opportunity compared to third countries
while opening its internal market to the competition of the EU and
the third countries.

Furthermore, through its own sources and
efforts, Turkey recorded an important progress regarding the
productivity in industrial and technological fields in addition to
increased competitiveness in both domestic and international
markets.

Until now, Turkey has taken steps which
strengthened its relations with the EU and kept its
commitments.

I believe that the Customs Union can not be a
long lasting process. Considering the fact that 6 years have
already past after the establishment of the Customs Union between
Turkey and the EU, there is certainly a need for taking a step
further, that is, Turkey’s full membership to the EU.

Otherwise, the problems experienced in
undertaking the EU’s common commercial policy without being
involved in the decision making process will prevent the deepening
of relations and after a certain point, it is my opinion that this
might also make it impossible.

As you would appreciate, Turkey’s association
relationship of nearly 40 years with the EU is considerably longer
and deep-rooted compared to EU’s other bilateral relationships with
its partners, including other candidates in the enlargement
process.

I believe that this year is of crucial
importance for our relations since the timetable of EU’s
enlargement will have been set by the end of this year.

Therefore, it is essential for Turkey that
accession negotiations be opened within 2003. Our domestic and
international efforts are now concentrated on the opening of these
negotiations at the earliest possible date. I believe that the
formal initiation of the screening process for the harmonization of
Turkish legislation with that of the EU’s, can be considered as the
most important step to accelerate this process.

For the time being, Turkey is the only candidate
country with which the accession negotiations are yet to be
initiated. It is encouraging that the Laeken Summit endorsed the
progress made by Turkey towards meeting political criteria set for
accession. However, we expect from the Commission to take more
concrete steps for the formal initiation of the “Screening Process”
in the second half of the year 2002, which is the basis of the
accession negotiations.

In my view, the immediate launching of formal
screening process would convey an important message to the Turkish
and the European public opinions regarding the determination of the
parties.

Furthermore, I believe that setting the
timetable for the initiation of the full membership negotiations
will create a more conducive environment in terms of a faster
enhancement of relations as well as resolving some issues.

I am convinced that due to Turkey’s peculiar
position of being a multidimensional bridge between east and west,
the unity that will be realized through Turkey’s full membership in
the EU would positively contribute to the economic development,
political stability and peace in the region.

While Turkey is taking with determination the
most significant steps towards its relations with the EU, which are
indeed very important, it certainly has to take into account its
needs stemming from its unique geo-political and geo-strategic
location as well as the experience we have acquired through our
history and some recent events.

In t heir assessment of Turkey, the EU members
should try to approach these issues from a broader perspective and
consider some of our sensitivities without prejudice.

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