Babacan: E.U. Cohesion Policy Should Also Cover Candidate Countries

ROME - State Minister Ali Babacan said on Monday that European Union (EU) cohesion policy should also cover candidate countries.
Economy ministers of EU member and candidate countries convened at an unofficial meeting in Rome, Italy to discuss the EU cohesion policy.
The meeting, staged by Economy Ministry of EU Term President Italy, was closed to the press.
There are two main issues that are on the agenda of the meeting. One is cohesion policy as element supporting competition power of Europe, and the second one is EU's cohesion policy and cooperation.
State Minister Ali Babacan, who delivered a speech at the meeting, gave information to his European colleagues about the economic reforms in Turkey.
Describing Europe's cohesion policy as one of the corner stones in EU's structure, Babacan said, ''close solidarity between EU member countries is possible with implementation of cohesion policy strongly.''
Stating that Turkish government favored continuation of EU's cohesion policies, Babacan said they wished further strengthening of those policies.
Babacan said EU should improve its cohesion policies in a way covering candidate countries, and countries which improve on the way to be a candidate.
(AY) 20.10.2003