Turkey works on three-stage EU action plan

ANKARA

The trio of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu (L), Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç (C) and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (R) visited northern Cyprus on Sept. 16. AA photo

Turkey is working on a three-stage EU action plan to accelerate its accession process, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has said.

The first stage includes measures to be taken until the end of this year; the second stage will continue from Jan. 1, 2015 until the parliamentary elections expected to be held in May 2015; the third stage will begin after those elections until 2019, Arınç said at a press conference on Sept. 15.

“As part of the three-stage action plan, there will be new arguments for the negotiation process that has been ongoing since 2005,” he said, stressing that the government’s approach on the plan would be “positive.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is also set to embark on a trip to a number of EU member states in the coming months, during which he will try to push momentum on Turkey’s EU accession bid.

Citing recent indications that relations between Turkey and the EU have “cooled” and that support for Turkey’s EU bid is declining, the Turkish government has made a reassessment and conducted a study of how problems could be resolved through reconciliation, Arınç also said. 

Negative developments would be resolved through dialogue, he added, stressing the government’s efforts to convince EU member states to respond to Turkey’s “positive stance”.