BRUSSELS - European Parliament approved on Thursday the 2004 year budget of the EU which foresaw 250 million Euros of assistance for Turkey.
The budget, which is worth of 99,7 billion Euros, foresees assistance worth of 250 million Euros for Turkey and 780 million Euros each for Bulgaria and Romania.
Michaele Schreyer, the EU Commissioner in charge of budget said that the amount of the assistance to Turkey doubled when compared to 2003.
BENEDICT: MORE THAN ONE BILLION EURO TO BE DONATED TO TURKEY BETWEEN 2004-2005 AND 2006
ISTANBUL - Oscar Benedict, the Economic Councellor of the European Commission to Representation to Turkey, said on Thursday that a source, more than one billion Euro, would be donated to Turkey in the next three years on condition that they should be used for reforms.
Addressing a meeting of Turkish Foreign Trade Association (TURKTRADE), Benedict said there was no surprise in Progress Report, stating that stability program revealed that Turkey could fulfill the targets.
Benedict said Central Bank also fulfilled very important duties, noting that important steps were taken in economy.
''However,'' Benedict noted, developments on privatization did not take place as expected, and stated that everything was not so brilliant in privatization. He said there was not an important development and noted that he hoped Turkey would record more development in 2004 because the money that will be obtained from privatization and government's withdrawal from economy were important.
Benedict said a decision would be taken at the end of 2004 whether or not negotiations would start with Turkey, adding that there would be a very serious share of contents between Turkey and the EU with this aim. He said Turkey's performance would be reviewed in evaluations that would take place in April and June, 2004.
Benedict said they thought that Turkey should continue both the political and the economic reforms, stressing that they saw that Turkey was determined in this respect, yet that more efforts should be exerted in some issues.
Benedict said an important progress was recorded in adjusting regulations in customs, environment, trade and agriculture with the regulations of the EU.
Stating that there were some difficulties, and that there were some obligations they expected, Benedict said, ''Turkey signed Customs Union agreement, but banned imports of cattle and veal. However, there is an agreement which is just the contrary. We don't understand why Turkey does this. We think there should be more concessions on agriculture.''
Benedict said nearly one billion Euro was donated to Turkey to support the reforms that were made to make Turkey closer to the EU.
Stating that more than one billion Euro would be donated to Turkey between 2004-2005 and 2006, Benedict said this was not a budget support, but that the donation had conditions. He said they should be used for reforms such as setting up a laboratory in Agriculture Ministry.
Pointing out that several crisis were overcome in the past four years, Benedict said he saw that Turkey progressed toward the right way with new stability programs. He said they could encourage the government on political and economic reforms, noting that Turkey had a very positive year and that they expected Turkey to have a better year.
When asked what changes they expected in Public Procurement Law, Benedict said a commission from the EU made an analysis and examined it item by item. He said it was seen that there were deviations from the EU standards in many points when compared with the EU rules. Benedict said all those issues were currently negotiated with the Turkish officials and the EU delegation in Brussels.
(AY-AÖ) 18.12.2003