Türkiye, EU to convene high-level business meeting after 3.5 years

SERKAN DEMİRTAŞ - ÇANAKKALE

Türkiye and the European Union will hold a high-level business dialogue meeting in Istanbul this week, after nearly three-and-a-half years in a bid to underline the importance of bilateral economic cooperation and amid Brussels’ warning of circumvention of the sanctions against Russia.

“As the EU, we want to continue to engage with Türkiye on the political level in different areas. Commissioner [responsible for enlargement Oliver] Varhelyi will visit Türkiye in the coming week to meet his counterparts in the Turkish government and participate in the high-level business dialogue,” head of the EU Delegation to Türkiye Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview during a visit to Çanakkale over the weekend.

Varhelyi is expected to be in Türkiye on Oct. 24 and 25 where he will meet the officials from the government as well as the business world. His talks will follow the visit by Mairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Mark, who held talks in Ankara earlier in October.

Ankara and Brussels held the latest high-level economic dialogue meeting in February 2019. A resolution adopted by the EU in 2020 and in reaction to the escalation in the eastern Mediterranean suspended Ankara-Brussels high-level dialogue in many areas. The meeting in Istanbul will be held under a different title in order to overcome this hurdle.

Ambassador Meyer-Landrut also informed that Türkiye and the EU will have a high-level dialogue meeting on research and development in Brussels in mid-November as a sign of continued engagement between the two parties. “We have a very important economic relationship with Türkiye, as a candidate country and as part of EU-Türkiye customs union. We need to build on this,” he said.

EU aims to prevent circumvention of sanctions

At a moment when Brussels is seeking to enhance bilateral economic ties with Türkiye, it also continues to urge the Turkish government and the Turkish companies over the newly adopted set of sanctions by the EU in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“The EU has decided to enforce a set of unprecedented sanctions on Russia. The objective of these sanctions is to hamper Russian war efforts in this unacceptable and terrible aggression Russia is waging on Ukraine,” the envoy recalled. This eight package sent a strong signal that the EU, for the first time, can sanction the nationals and entities in the third parties who contribute the circumvention, he underlined.

“We have raised our concerns with the Turkish authorities, and this was the reason of the Commissioner McGuinness visit to Ankara. The commissioner met the ministers and the governor of the Central Bank,” Meyer-Landrut explained. According to the envoy, Brussels is also fighting to prevent circumvention within the EU, stressing “This is the biggest set of sanctions the EU has ever adopted. Many, many actors are concerned by this. The implementation of the sanctions set is very complex.”

EU’s aim is to reduce dependency on Russian gas

On a question on a recent proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin for turning Türkiye into an energy hub from where the Europeans can supply the Russian gas, the EU envoy has strongly signaled that Brussels is not interested in such a project.

“The overriding trend is to reduce and to further reduce our dependency on Russian gas and Russian fossil fuels. The EU’s import gas from Russia dropped from 41 percent to 9 percent since the war started. This decision was taken in May to disengage fossil fuels from Russia,” he recalled, adding that “This will remain a guiding principle of the European energy policy.”
Having said that, the envoy also underlined the need for cooperation between the two parties on energy. “But I also think that as the EU we should intensify our cooperation between Türkiye and the EU in the area of energy. We face common challenges,” he said.

EU seeks dialogue between Ankara and Athens

On a question over recently rising escalation between Türkiye and Greece, he recalled that the EU Council seeks sustained de-escalation and diplomacy between the two neighboring countries. “We think good neighborly relations are in the interest of all. In the context of the Russian war against Ukraine, within NATO and within the EU we have to stand together,” Meyer-Landrut noted.

Concerns over the implementation of social media law

The EU ambassador has also replied to a question on the recent approved law on social media that seeks to prevent disinformation. “Freedom of expression is a prerequisite of a functioning democracy. Freedom of expression is among the core-values of the EU. We hope, as others, the new law will not be implemented in a way to put additional pressure on the freedom of expression,” he said.

The most controversial article of the new law – article 29 – stipulates up to a three-year prison sentence for those accused of spreading disinformation. The opposition parties and media associations slam the law as a new tool to further restrict freedom of expression in Türkiye especially ahead of next year’s presidential and parliamentary polls.