LUXEMBOURG - Guenter Verheugen, the EU Commissioner for Enlargement said on Tuesday that the EU should continue encouraging Turkey.
Speaking in a news conference at the end of EU General Affairs Council, Verheugen said that the strategy which the EU determined in Helsinki summit regarding the relations with Turkey has been very successful. ''We got better results than we expected, we must continue encouraging Turkey,'' he said.
EU Council approved the expressions to be used in the Turkey paragraph of the EU's Brussels summit's final declaration. This text will later be approved by the EU heads of states and governments during the Brussels summit to be held between 24-25 October.
The draft paragraph on Turkey was announced by the EU Term President Denmark: ''Turkey has taken important steps towards meeting the Copenhagen political criteria and has moved forward on the economic criteria and alignment with the acquis, as registered in the Commission's Regular Report. This has brought forward the opening of accession negotiations with Turkey. The Union encourages Turkey to pursue its reform process and to take further concrete steps in the direction of implementation which will advance Turkey's accession in accordance with the same principles and criteria as are applied to the other candidate countries. The Council is invited to prepare in time for the Copenhagen European Council the elements for deciding on the next stage of Turkey's candidature, on the basis of the Commission's Strategy paper and in accordance with the conclusions from the European Councils in Helsinki, Lacken and Seville.''
The draft also reiterated the EU's preference for a reunited Cyprus to join the EU on the basis of a comprehensive settlement and urges the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot sides to seize the opportunity and reach an agreement before the end of the accession negotiations this year. ''In the absence of a settlement, the decisions to be taken in December by the Copenhagen European Council will be based on the conclusions set out by the Helsinki European Council in 1999,'' it was noted.
The Helsinki summit's final declaration noted that the solution of the problems in Cyprus was not a precondition for full membership, adding that the Council would nevertheless give a decision in line with developments.
The draft of the Brussels summit's final declaration also mentions from aid to TRNC in case of Greek Cypriot side's accession to the EU, telling that EU planned to give 39 million Euros in 2004, 67 million Euros in 2005 and 100 million Euros in 2006 to the northern part of Cyprus.