ANKARA (A.A) - 25.07.2002 - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Thursday that his party does not have any hesitation in respect of EU full membership target.
Speaking to reporters at Esenboga Airport before his departure for Istanbul where he will attend the National Security Council (NSC) meeting, Ecevit expressed sorrow over the flood disaster in Rize province where there are 12 deads, 19 missing people and four injured people.
Ecevit said that Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yýlmaz went to Rize and State Minister Melda Bayer would also go to the region.
When asked his views about the EU adjustment laws and if his party would sign the proposal of Motherland Party (ANAP), Ecevit said that ''as far as I know this is not the proposal of ANAP. This study was undertaken as a cooperation between coalition parties and even deputies from the opposition parties. Justice Ministry gave the last form to it two days ago. This is a common study. DSP launches efforts to ease the EU integration process. However the works related to the EU will be hindered for a certain period of time due to early elections.''
Ecevit said that ANAP leader Yýlmaz told him that the parliament has to firstly take up the EU issue and then early elections, adding that ''however the idea to hold early elections has taken root. DSP was against early elections from the beginning, because the studies about the EU had to be completed rapidly. As you know the coalition partners undertook a very productive study, we adopted many laws, but we needed time for implementation of these reforms. Great steps would be taken for relations with the EU if all these issues were completed. However this opportunity has been missed in some aspect, but DSP will do its best. I have another concern which is the possibility that early elections can cause certain problems in economy.''
When asked whether or not they would sign the 13-article package about the EU, Prime Minister Ecevit said, ''we have carried out a joint work. The Justice Ministry has turned these works into a package. We do not have any concerns or hesitations about the EU full membership.''
When asked, ''should the parliament take a decision to hold early elections or should it debate the EU adjustment laws when it holds an extraordinary meeting on July 29,'' Prime Minister Ecevit said, ''there are different views and requests. A haste decision was taken to hold the early elections. When the parliament takes an official decision to hold the early elections, it may not have enough time to carry out other legislative works. We have been opposing the early elections from the very beginning. However, no one listened to us.''
When asked, ''shall we forget the EU adjustment laws prior to the EU's summit meeting on December 12?'' Prime Minister Ecevit said, ''no. It is out of question. We cannot hinder our works about the EU full membership. The EU full membership is our national target. It is not the target of only this or that political party. All parties have concentrated on the EU full membership.''
When told that recent public surveys revealed the fact that the political parties forming the coalition government had lost their votes, Prime Minister Ecevit said, ''I have never made predictions about elections. I do not rely on results of public surveys. At the beginning of all election campaigns, same claims are put forward for the DSP. However, the DSP became the first political party in the last elections.''
''Unfortunately, we do not have enough time to give information about our activities. The 57th government has carried out very successful works. Results of these works will be seen in coming periods. If early elections had not been held before April of 2004, we would have informed the public opinion on our achievements,'' he stressed.
Responding a question about news stories claiming that State Minister Kemal Dervis for Economy would resign from his post at the end of the July, Prime Minister Ecevit said, ''I do not have any information about these news stories. If State Minister Dervis prefers to join another political party, there is nothing we can do about it. We will continue to fulfill our duty.''