EU tells Turkey to work toward date
LUXEMBOURG – The European Union yesterday told Turkey that it was making «substantial efforts» to get in shape for EU accession but that it still needed to restructure its economy and improve its human rights record. Guenter Verheugen, the EU commissioner for enlargement, said the EU will set a start date for entry talks only once Turkey meets all membership criteria. «Turkey is engaged in a process of substantial political reforms (and) we are receptive to Turkey’s desire» for early membership, Verheugen said. He added that this can only happen if Turkey completes economic reforms, too. ýhe EU said it remains firm on the decisions of the Helsinki summit of 1998, which do not tie Cyprus’s accession to the end to its division and also call for a single international presence and vote for Cyprus. Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique and Verheugen noted, however, that the EU would like to see a solution to the Cyprus problem by June. Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, who was in Luxembourg for the EU-Turkey Association Council meeting, said that a start date for accession talks would serve as a motive for Turkey’s behavior on all the issues raised by the EU. He said also that Turkey was sticking to its opposition to Cyprus’s accession. Foreign Minister George Papandreou met with Pique and the EU’s defense and foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, for talks on the EU’s nascent defense force. Greece opposes a deal, accepted by its 14 partners, giving Turkey, a member of NATO who is not in the EU, a say in how the force uses NATO assets. (Kathimerini, AP)
