TURKEY IN THE ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS Nilgün ARISAN ERALP Secretariat General for the EU Affairs 28 April 2006 TURKEY IN THE ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS Nilgün ARISAN ERALP Secretariat General for the EU Affairs 28 April 2006

Negotiations Against all odds, accession negotiatons between EU and Turkey were initiated on 3rd of October, around hrs GMT. Key Questions? How long they are going to last ? What will be the final outcome ?

Negotiations Negotiations Negotiations constitute a new reality : “ there are still years of negotiations and plenty of pitfalls ahead, but if Turkey ever joins the European Union, people will look back on this summit as a decisive moment ” Chris Morris, BBC Europe correspondent. “now EU has become a stakeholder in the continuation of the political, economic and social transformation of the country ” Olli REHN, Enlargement Commisioner

Negotiation Framework - -definitely a vigorous and strict one ; - -signals a tough time ahead: challenges and difficulties; - - contains grey areas.

Negotiation Framework outcome of the following factors: - -Turkey’s differences (size, population, geographical location etc.) - -Negative experiences of the 5th enlargement ; - -Enlargement fatigue/ “temporary indigestion” caused by the 5th enlargement/enlargement fear; - -Certain level of mistrust towards Turkey.

Negotiation Framework Our attention should focus on : “the shared objective of the negotiations is accession” For the moment we should try to omit the fact that: “politics not technicalities will finally decide Turkey’s fate” We have to concentrate on another fact : “the pace of the negotiatons is closely related to Turkey’s performance in fulfilling the membership criteria”

Negotiations What we expect : ‘a strict (negotiation framework) but fair approach ’ on the basis of merit

Membership Criteria  Political Criteria  Economic Criteria  “Acquis Criteria” : adopting and efficiently implementing the body of EU legislation

Political Criteria Key importance in the negotiation process:   Closely monitored by the European Commission;   Failure in this area might result in the suspension of the talks.

Political Criteria European Commission : “Turkey has sufficiently fulfilled the political criteria”. Ambitious transformation especially since summer 2002:   abolishing the death penalty;   Kurdish language learning;   broadcasting in Kurdish language;   scrapping state security courts;   revising the penal code;   tightening the civil control over the army.

Political Criteria Still much to do to establish the EU norms in the country keywords :   implementation;   monitoring (reform monitoring group);   minimising road accidents;   putting the emphasis on training (law enforcement bodies and judiciary).

Economic Criteria Not the subject of negotiations per se. The process of fulfilling the economic criteria will be closely monitored and the failure of doing so might be a benchmark for opening aup negotiations in some chapters related with the economy :   Free movement of Capital;   Competititon;   Economic and Monetary Policy;   Enterprise and Industrial Policy.

Economic Criteria EU demands: “ disinflation and fiscal sustainability” and necessary reforms necessary to attain these Turkey’s main priority : To ensure a sustainable growth environment reducing inflationary pressures and bringing public sector deficit and debt ratios to EU averages.

Economic Criteria: Key Instruments Particular emphasis : privatisation and structural reforms and lowering regional differences

Economic Criteria: Key Instruments Main Structural Reforms : - -completing the reform of the financial sector and modernising public finances; - -modernising public administration; - -reforming agricultural sector.

Economic Criteria: Accomplishments   institutional and legal infrastructure of a free market economy has almost been completed;   significant improvement in key macroeconomic indicators like growth (2004 : 9.9, 2005: 5.3 %), inflation rate (2004 : 9.3, 2005: 7.6 %), ratio of budget deficit to national income (2004 : -7.1%, 2005: %), ratio of public debt to national income (2001 : 90.5 %, 2005: 70 % ), etc. ;   economic stability and predictability has significantly improved;   there is broad consensus on essentials of economic policy ;   privatisation process has accelerated;

Economic Criteria: Accomplishments   structural reforms seem to be in the right track in general;   major shift in development policy : National Development Plan;   a new policy : Rural Development

Economic Criteria Main Challenges :   Unemployment (10 %) ;   Agricultural employment (35.2 % of workforce in agriculture);   Regional disparities;   Existence of informal sector;   Lack of a coherent education policy geared towards the needs of the labour market.

Economic Criteria: What Remains to be Done Economic Criteria: What Remains to be Done Major concerns of the EU :   sustainability of macroeconomic stability and fiscal discipline (are they still fragile?) and predictability ;   state intervention in the economy : three state banks still control % of the banking sector;   unfavorable investment climate.

Adopting the Acquis 1-Free Movement of Goods 2-Free Movement of Workers 3-Right of Establishment and Freedom to Provide Services 4-Free Movement of Capital 5- Public Procurement 6-Company Law 7- Intellectual Property Law 8-Competition Policy (State Aids) 9- Financial Services 10- Information Society and Media

Adopting the Acquis 11-Agriculture and Rural Development 12- Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Policy 13 -Fisheries 14-Transport Policy 15-Energy 16-Taxation 17- Economic and Monetary Policy 18- Statistics 19- Social Policy and Employment

Adopting the Acquis Adopting the Acquis 20- Enterprise and Industrial Policy 21- Trans-European Networks 22-Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments 23- Judiciary and Fundamental Rights 24- Justice, Freedom and Security 25- Science and Research 26- Education and Culture 27- Environment

Adopting the Acquis Adopting the Acquis 28- Consumer Protection 29- Customs Union 30- External Relations 31-Common Foreign and Security Policy 32- Financial Control 33- Financial and Budgetary Affairs

Values and Principles of the EU Acquis: Governability The governability principles are embedded in the EU acquis (body of EU legislation) : - -transparency; - -accountability; - - participation with a special emphasis on “social dialogue”; - -change in the role of state : producer state regulatory state/ monitoring state/coordinator state Olli REHN : “Good governance is the key to make full use of Turkey’s potential ”

TURKEY’S ACCESSION PROCESS Acquis : the principles and values Transparency and accountability the Law on the right to have access to information ; Public Financial Management Law; new simplified budgetary system; strengthening of the Public Procurement Authority. Participation change in the working procedure of the Economic and Social Council; strengthening of social dialogue especially in the labour market ; preparing the National Development Plan with a participatory method;

TURKEY’S ACCESSION PROCESS Acquis : the principles and values Public sector reform programme aims to enhance the participation principle in the state-citizen relations by increasing the number of consultation mechanisms in the policy-making. introduces “regulatory impact analysis” method to the drafting stage of the legislative process in Turkey Change in the role of state Network industries and natural monopolies have been introduced to market competition. State: regulator in these sectors.

THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLE OF TURKEY’S CURRENT NEGOTIATION PROCESS “ at the core of integration of any form, lies the need to establish credible commitments ” (Phedon Nicolaides) Turkey currently concentrates all its efforts to make its commitments credible. New Negotiation Structure Ministries : main actors Coordination : Prime Ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretariat General for the EU Affairs, State Planning Organisation, Turkey’s Permanent Representation in the EU.

THE SCREENING PROCESS OF TURKEY CHAPTER EXPLANATORY EXPLANATORYSCREENING BILATERAL BILATERALSCREENING 1.SCIENCE AND RESEARCH 20 OCTOBER NOVEMBER EDUCATION AND CULTURE 26 OCTOBER NOVEMBER PUBLIC PROCUREMENT 7 NOVEMBER NOVEMBER COMPETITON POLICY 8-9 NOVEMBER DECEMBER RIGHT OF SETTLEMENT AND FREE MOVEMENT OF SERVICES NOVEMBER DECEMBER FREE MOVEMENT OF CAPITAL 25 NOVEMBER DECEMBER AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEV. 5-8 DECEMBER JANUARY JUSTICE, FREEDOM AND SECURITY JANUARY FEBRUARY FREE MOVEMENT OF GOODS JANUARY FEBRUARY CUSTOMS UNION 31 JANUARY-1 FEBRUARY MARCH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW 6-7 FEBRUARY MARCH SOCIAL POLICY AND EMPLOYMENT 8-10 FEBRUARY MARCH ECONOMIC AND MONETARY POLCIY 17 FEBRUARY MARCH FISHERIES 24 FEBRUARY MARCH FOOD SAFETY, VETERINARY AND PHYTOSANITARY POLICY 9-15 MARCH APRIL-3 MAY 2006

THE SCREENING PROCESS OF TURKEY CHAPTER EXPLANATORY EXPLANATORYSCREENINGBILATERALSCREENING 16. ENTERPRISE AND INDUSTRIAL POLICY MARCH 4-5 MAY FINANCIAL SERVICES MARCH 2-3 MAY ENVIRONMENT 3-11 APRIL 29 MAY -2 JUNE 2006

CONCLUSION  A significant synergy has already been created in various important fields;  A real sense of direction has been built and a significant momentum has been attained.  This momentum will be strengthened with the negotiation process.

CONCLUSION However : Vision and political courage is required on both sides for the period ahead of us to be succesful and these should be translated into policies as : “vision without implemantation is hallucination” (Bertrand Russel)