CHAPTER 22 OPENED IN ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS

“Chapter 22- Regional Policy and Coordination of Structural Instruments” was opened at the tenth meeting of the Accession Conference with Turkey at Ministerial level in Brussels.

Turkish delegation was represented by Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis, and Minister of Development Cevdet Yilmaz, while the European Union delegation was headed by Linas Linkevičius, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania, the term president of the European Union and Štefan Füle, Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy on behalf of the European Commission.

Konferansın ardından AB Bakanı ve Başmüzakereci Egemen Bağış, Kalkınma Bakanı Cevdet Yılmaz ile birlikte faslın açılması vesilesiyle AB tarafı ile gerçekleştirilen ortak basın toplantısına katıldı.

After the conference, Minister Bagis and Minister Yilmaz attended the press conference jointly held by the EU delegation on the occasion of opening of the chapter.

Minister Bagis said that opening of the 22nd chapter, as a delayed but positive step, would reflect to Turkey significantly and that an important milestone was marked in Turkey-EU relations. Bagis pointed out that Turkey’s membership would turn the EU into a global peace project from a continental project. Bagis called for the continuation of the regional policy chapter with new chapters and asked the removal of political barriers in front of “judiciary and fundamental rights” and “justice, freedom and security” chapters specifically.

Reminding that the democratisation package was welcomed by a number of the members of the EU Commission and reflected positively in the 2013 Progress Report, Minister Bagis said, “I should confess that it has been the most objective and the most motivating progress report of the recent decade”.

Bagis, also commented that along with the 22nd chapter, all regions in Turkey would take the advantage of the EU funds and added: “Opening of this chapter also means a rapid start, reflecting Turkey's commitment to the relations with the EU as well as to further reforms to improve the living standards of our citizens, which is a primary objective of our government”.