Turkey’s EU accession a win-win situation: Minister

PARIS – Anatolia News Agency

EU Minister Egemen Bağış (R) meets with the head of the umbrella organization of Jewish community CRIF, Richard Prasquier, and leaders of the EU Commission and Friendship Groups at the Senate and National Assembly.

Turkish EU minister Egemen Bağış said yesterday it was time to give a fresh impetus to Turkey-EU relations during a conference in the French capital of Paris.

“European Union needs a new way of thinking to accelerate its relations with Turkey. Turkey is an inseparable part of the EU for it to realize its target of enlargement and influencing neighboring countries’ policies. Turkey’s full membership to the Union would create a ‘win-win’ situation,” Bağış said, in a conference titled, “Turkey for a New Europe.”

Bağış linked Turkey’s accession to the economic reforms needed to solve Europe’s current economic woes. “Turkey has undergone a huge socio-economic transformation in the last decade. We have established impressive economic development and political stability due to structural reforms. We believe our membership can provide a variety of solutions to the EU’s current problems,” he said.

France expects ‘gesture’ from Ankara

Paris is expecting a gesture from Turkey over the return of the illegal immigrants who came to Europe from Turkey in return for lifting the veto on one of the five chapters in Turkey’s accession talks with the EU.

A French diplomat said Paris is expecting a gesture over the Readmission Agreement of illegal immigrants, speaking to the French News Agency after the meeting of Turkish EU Minister Egemen Bağış and his French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve in Paris.

Bağış and Cazeneuve discussed the details of Chapter 22 focusing of “Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments.”

“We exchanged our ideas about other chapters and stressed the common determination of Turkey’s EU accession,” Bağış said. Bağış also discussed the visa liberalization for Turkish citizens with French Interior Minister Manuel Valls.