Turk FM says pace of reforms depends on EU's loyalty

Babacan cited one unnamed EU state in particular as holding up part of the talks started in 2005, an indirect reference to France and President Nicolas Sarkozy's oft-stated opposition to its membership aspirations.

"The opening of some chapters are blocked," Babacan said, referring to the 35 reform areas into which negotiations with the EU are divided, in a joint news conference with his Slovenian counterpart Dimitrij Rupel, whose country currently holds the rotating Presidency of the EU, and European Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn, after the association council meeting between Turkey and the EU in Brussels.

"These chapters have not been opened because of the concerns of one member state ... That has a negative impact on the enthusiasm of the Turkish population for reforms and accession," he said.

The EU must ensure such political considerations do not hinder the membership talks that opened in late 2005, he added.

Diplomats said Babacan only attended the talks after France -- which insists Ankara should have at most a special partnership with the bloc -- withdrew its demand that the word "accession" be omitted from EU texts preparing for the meeting.

French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet told reporters on Tuesday on the eve of the talks that Paris had chosen to withdraw its demand, noting its forthcoming six-month spell as EU President required it to be "impartial, equitable, balanced," Reuters reported.

Turkey has so far opened just six of the 35 chapters of reform work required for accession and is hoping to start a further two -- on company and intellectual property laws -- as early as next month.

Babacan also said EU countries' denying their own signature would harm the reliability of the Union. 

The Union's foreign ministers approved on Monday the common position paper, which will be presented to Turkey at the Association Council meeting, without any changes, ending a week-long disagreement over France's insistence to remove the word "accession" from the paper.

The Association Council is the most important decision-making body on Turkish-EU relations. It meets periodically at the ministerial level, bringing together member states with Turkey to overview the accession process.  Â

During the Association Council meeting each side delivers a speech explaining how they see the current state of affairs. The speech delivered by the term presidency of the Union is called "common position," and has to be penned with consensus among the 27 member states.Â

Babacan said the EU --during the summit in Dec. 17, 2004 and in the Negotiation Framework Paper in October, 2005-- registered the target of Turkey-EU negotiations as full membership unanimously and on the highest level, the Anatolian Agency reported.

He said the efforts of France to remove the word "accession" from EU documents would mean the "EU's denial of its own signature," calling on the EU to remain loyal to its commitments, and not endanger its reliability.

He added the Turkish government, while fulfilling reforms, paid attention to "legal legitimacy, international legitimacy as well as legitimacy in public conscience".

Babacan said he expected the Constitutional Court to make a decision in the closure case against Turkey's ruling AKP which would be in harmony with Copenhagen criteria, the ECHR regulations and the principles of Venice Commission of Council of Europe.

MORE REFORMS NEEDED 

Rehn said the smooth progress of EU-Turkey membership negotiations was based on the Turkey's ability to adopt and fulfill the reforms.

He expressed his pleasure over Turkey's adoption of Law on Foundations and amending the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, and also asked that Turkey revise other restrictive stipulations.

Rehn said Turkey should focus on a judicial reform, adding the existence of a neutral, independent, reliable and transparent judiciary in Turkey was indispensable.

Rupel, on his part, said Turkey recorded significant progress on the EU membership path, and wished reforms continue to be pursued.

He said the EU paid attention to Turkey's role in international politics and cited Turkey's facilitator role in the Israeli-Syrian peace talks as an example.

Turkey was one of the most important allies and partners of the EU; and it would be one of the most important members of the Community after this process was completed, Rupel added.

Following the association council meeting, Babacan met with EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana.   

Photo: AA