Turkish EU Accession Talks Begin

by Lorys Charalambous, for LawAndTax-News.com, Cyprus

05 October 2005

It emerged late on Monday that EU accession talks with Turkey have been cleared to begin, despite strong opposition from Austria.

Austria had sought to have the term "accession" removed from the framework for negotiations, arguing that the country was simply too large to be absorbed by the European Union, and that its resistance to the recognition of the Greek Cypriot government should be taken into account.

Speaking on Thursday, Austrian Prime Minister, Wolfgang Schussel proposed an alternative model, suggesting that:

"If Turkey does not fulfil the criteria, then Turkey should be bound in Europe by the strongest possible bond and if the Union can't absorb Turkey, then we are also looking for the strongest possible alternative bond."

However, after hours of negotiating, the concerns of all sides seem to have been addressed, meaning that accession talks can officially begin.

According to reports, Austria succeeded in ensuring that the EU's ability to absorb the impoverished country was highlighted as a condition of Turkish entry to the EU, but it failed to remove the term "accession" from the negotiating framework. Meanwhile, Cyprus secured a clause stating that the Turkish authorities should align their policies on international organisations with those of the the European Union, thus obliging Turkey to stop blocking Cypriot membership of international bodies.

Speaking following the laborious emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, UK Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw observed that:

"We owe this to Turkey," going on to add: "It's going to be a long road ahead but bringing Turkey into the EU is a prize worth striving for."

It is thought that membership negotiations with Turkey will continue for at least ten years.

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