Turkey Is On Agenda Of E.U. Brussels Summit

BRUKSEL - The relations with Turkey will also be taken up within the frame of enlargement issue which is on the agenda of European Union (EU) Brussels Summit.
Heads of governments and states are expected to deliver encouraging messages to Turkey in the summit, while the decision on full membership negotiations will be probably left to the Copenhagen Summit in December due to the uncertain condition of Turkey prior to November 3 elections.
EU Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen made statements prior to the summit and said that they took favorable results by the strategies determined in Helsinki for Turkey, adding that they would continue to encourage Turkey.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said that Turkey was making great progress but it didn't complete fulfilling the political criteria yet. He added that they had to find ways of expressing clearly that 15 EU countries considered Turkey on the right path and EU supported this conduct of Turkey.
Noting that Cyprus issue should be solved prior to the Copenhagen Summit, Villepin said that the solution was not pre-condition for full membership for Cyprus but trying to reach a consensus was important.
The draft paragraph on Turkey of the declaration expected to be adopted at the end of the summit was announced by the EU Term President Denmark two days ago and it says: ''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.