LUXEMBOURG - The European Union (EU) presented the new Accession Partnership Accord in which EU Commission assessed its relations with Turkey and explained its expectations from the Turkish government, to Turkey on Tuesday.
The Accession Partnership Accord was presented during the meeting of the EU-Turkey Associate Partnership Council.
In its Accession Partnership Accord in 2000, the EU Commission put forward its requests from Turkey.
The 27-page reviewed Accession Partnership Accord, which will be approved at tomorrow's meeting, includes a comprehensive analysis and enumerates the EU's latest expectations from the Turkish government.
The reviewed Accession Partnership Accord says, ''the decision of the Helsinki European Council in 1999 to recognize Turkey as a candidate for accession, encouraged it to adopt a series of far reaching constitutional and legislative reforms. The European Councils of Laeken in 2001, Seville, Brussels and Copenhagen in 2002 recognized the progress made by Turkey towards complying with the political criteria.''
''The Copenhagen European Council further concluded that if the European Council in December 2004, on the basis of a report and a recommendation from the Commission, decides that Turkey fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria, the European Union will open accession negotiations with Turkey without delay,'' it said.

-FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Noting that the regulation had reiterated the Commission's objective to establish pre-accession financial assistance, on average, at an annual level of 177 million euros, the reviewed Accession Partnership Accord said, ''in its Strategy Paper of 2002, the Commission envisaged that total assistance should be substantially increased, taking into account Turkey's needs and absorptive capacity.''
The accord proposed to provide Turkey with pre-accession financial assistance of 250 million euros in 2004, 300 million euros in 2005 and 500 million euros in 2006.
Institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities will be able to benefit from this assistance aiming at helping Turkey in fulfilling Copenhagen political criteria and strengthening its institutional abilities.
''Turkey needs to further improve its capacity to manage and use these funds effectively,'' it said.

-PRINCIPLES

The reviewed Accession Partnership Accord referred to the main principles for each candidate states.
It said, ''the main priority areas identified for each candidate State relate to their ability to take on the obligations of meeting the Copenhagen criteria which state that membership requires:
- that the candidate State has achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities;
- the existence of a functioning market economy, as well as the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union;
- the ability to take on the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of political, economic and monetary union.''

-POLITICAL CRITERIA

The reviewed Accession Partnership Accord summarized political expectations for 2003-2004 period as follows:
- to strongly support efforts to find a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem, building on the initiatives of the United Nations Secretary General, which remain on the table;
- to make every effort to resolve any outstanding border disputes and other related issues;
- to ratify Protocol no: 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights; and to comply with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;
- to implement measures to fight against torture and ill-treatment by law enforcement officials;
- to guarantee in practice the right for detained and imprisoned persons to access in private to a lawyer and to have relatives notified, from the outset of their custody;
- to guarantee in law and in practice the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by all individuals without discrimination and irrespective of language, race, color, sex, political opinion, religion or belief;
- to pursue and implement reforms concerning freedom of expression including freedom of the press; to remedy the situation of those persons prosecuted or sentenced for non-violent expression of opinion;
- to pursue and implement reforms concerning freedom of association and peaceful assembly; to lift legal restrictions including for trade unions; and to encourage the development of civil society;
- to adapt and implement provisions concerning the exercise of freedom of thought, conscience and religion by all individuals and religious communities; to establish conditions for the functioning of these communities. This includes legal and judicial protection of the communities, their members and their assets, teaching, appointing and training of clergy, and the enjoyment of property rights;
- to ensure cultural diversity and guarantee cultural rights for all citizens irrespective of their origin; to ensure effective access to Radio/TV broadcasting and education in languages other than Turkish through implementation of existing measures and the removal of remaining restrictions that impede this access;
- to adapt the functioning of the National Security Council in order to align civilian control of the military with practice in EU Member States;
- to strengthen the independence and efficiency of the judiciary and promote consistent interpretation of legal provisions related to human rights and fundamental freedoms;
- to continue to bring conditions in prisons into line with standards in EU member states;
- to continue efforts to develop a comprehensive approach to reduce regional disparities, and in particular to improve the situation in the south-east, with a view to enhancing economic, social and cultural opportunities for all citizens.
-ECONOMIC CRITERIA

The reviewed Accession Partnership Accord summarized short and medium term economic criteria as follows:
- to ensure the implementation of the current disinflation and structural reform program agreed with the IMF and the World Bank, in particular, ensure the control of public expenditure;
- to continue the swift implementation of the financial sector reform, in particular the alignment of prudential and transparency regulations and their surveillance with international standards;
- to accelerate the privatization of state-owned entities, taking into account the social component;
- to continue with market liberalization, in particular in the areas of tobacco and sugar;
- to facilitate and promote the inflow of foreign direct investments;
- to enhance the economic dialogue with the EU;
The reviewed Accession Partnership Accord also put forward the EU's technical expectations from Turkey in many fields such as free movement of goods, capital and services; competition; company law; agriculture; fishery; transportation; taxation; statistics; social policy and employment; energy; education and telecommunication.
After assessing the reviewed Accession Partnership Accord, Turkey will present the National Program in which it will review its relations with the EU.
(UK-AY) 15.04.2003