Other document, General Affairs and External Relations

Tuomioja: EU accession negotiations with Turkey "take two to tango"

16 Oct 2006, 20:34 en fr fi sv

Quite a lot has already been done at accession negotiations with Turkey, told Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja at the General Affairs and External Relations Council's (GAERC) EU -Turkey troika-meeting´s press conference in Luxembourg on 16 October 2006. "We'll continue working on these issues on both sides, it takes two to tango", Tuomioja said.

Olli Rehn, EU-Commissioner for enlargement, commented the Finnish proposal to avert difficulties with Turkey's EU accession negotiations by saying that "the Finnish proposal is the only game in town". There is no plan B and we have to work as hard as possible in order to solve this question, Rehn said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül pointed out that Turkey is working on adopting the "EU-acquis". According to Gül, Turkish government knows very well the importance of human rights and democratisation issues. "We are working on it and we are moving forward", he said. Gül also congratulated the Finnish EU-Precidency on its efforts to solve current problems concerning the northern part of Cyprus. "We also want this issue to be solved", Gül said. 

EU - Turkey troika meeting's discussions focused on current international issues such as Iran, Lebanon, Middle East and South Caucasus. According to Tuomioja, also political and legislative issues such as Cyprus, border questions and human rights were discussed. Commissioner Rehn described the accession negotiations as both technical and political. "The so-called screening process of Turkey is going well", Rehn told.

General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC)
Webcast of the press conference: EU - Turkey, Foreign Ministers' Troika

http://www.eu2006.fi/media_services/webcasts/en_GB/archive_october/



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