Seymour Crawford
Question:116 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the potential timescale for Turkish accession to the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2643/05]
View answerWednesday, 2 February 2005
Questions (85, 86, 87)
Michael D. Higgins
Question:121 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the situation with regard to Turkey’s application for membership of the European Union; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2771/05]
View answer
Pat Breen
Question:189 Mr. P. Breen asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on EU accession negotiations with Turkey; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2615/05]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 116, 121 and 189 together.
Turkey has been a candidate for membership of the EU since the Helsinki European Council in December 1999, which agreed that it was destined to join the Union on the basis of the same criteria applied to the other candidate states. The European Council in Brussels on 16-17 December 2004 decided, on the basis of the Commission's report and recommendation, that Turkey sufficiently fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria to enable the opening of accession negotiations. It requested the Commission to begin work on a proposal for a negotiating framework and to present it to the Council, with a view to the opening of accession negotiations on 3 October 2005. The clear objective of the negotiations will be Turkey's accession to the Union, provided it meets the requirements for membership. The pace of the negotiations will depend in large part on progress in the implementation of Turkey's wide-ranging reform programme. Given the substantial financial consequences of Turkish accession, the European Council agreed that it will not be possible to conclude negotiations until after the establishment of the financial framework for the period from 2014.
The December European Council also set out the main elements for future negotiating frameworks with individual candidate states, building on the experience of the current enlargement process and taking account of developments within the EU. Turkey's accession negotiations will take place in the context of an Intergovernmental Conference with the participation of all member states, in which decisions will require unanimity. The European Council agreed that the shared objective of the negotiations will be accession, but noted that the process will be inevitably an open-ended one, the outcome of which cannot be guaranteed in advance.
In preparation for the European Council decision, it was clear that although the search for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem will remain a UN-led process, some movement was necessary by Turkey towards the objective of normalising relations with the Republic of Cyprus, which has been a member state of the Union since 1 May 2004. The European Council welcomed Turkey's decision to sign the protocol adapting the 1963 Ankara agreement of association in order to take account of the accession of ten new member states, including the Republic of Cyprus. I welcome the important declaration by the Turkish Government that it is ready to sign the protocol prior to the actual start of negotiations.
In the months ahead, member states will consider proposals from the Commission for a revised accession partnership with Turkey setting out priorities for the continued implementation of the reform process, which will be central to the accession negotiations. The Council will also consider Commission proposals for a detailed negotiating framework, based on the principles outlined by the European Council. The Government will continue to work with our partners in the Union and Turkey to ensure that all the elements are in place for a successful opening of accession negotiations on 3 October.