POSITIVE AGENDA KICK OFF MEETING HELD

Positive Agenda aiming at giving impetus to Turkey-EU relations officially started with the kick off meeting held in Ministry for European Union Affairs by Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis and Stefan Füle Commissioner responsible for enlargement and European neighbourhood policy.

Stating, in press conference, that Turkey-EU accession negotiations had turned into a process which is known for the deadlocks due to political blockages, Bagis said “Today we are starting a period in which we are taking a new step to overcome these deadlocks, we are hoping to give impetus to Turkey-EU accession negotiations. Today we are living a moment where we are meeting in the middle to say “Past is the past my dear, it is time to say new things” as Mevlana said. Thus, 17 May 2012 should be noted as the date which we expect to be remembered as the turning point in Turkey’s EU membership under EU-Turkey relations chronology.”

Egemen Bagis stated that common working groups would be established in 8 chapters within the framework of the Positive Agenda which is not an alternative for Turkey’s EU accession negotiations, and he also said that this agenda was not introducing a new alternative for EU process; on the contrary, it aimed at giving impetus to the negotiation process.