Speech outline for. Mr Tibor Váradi Deputy Head of EU Delegation in Ankara. 15 September 2011, Istanbul

Transcription

1 Speech outline for Mr Tibor Váradi Deputy Head of EU Delegation in Ankara At the 29 th Meeting of the EU Turkey Joint Consultative Committee 15 September 2011, Istanbul Distinguished members of the EU TR Joint Consultative Committee Distinguished co-chairs Distinguished President of TOBB Distinguished President of ECOSOC Distinguished Minister Ladies and gentlemen I am very honoured to be here today at the EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee, to meet with representatives of the civil society in Turkey and members of the European Economic and Social Committee. I am speaking before you at a time in Turkey when, following the elections in June, AK Party has been given a third time renewed mandate to lead this country. Turkish democracy has matured with a high turnout and with a balanced result. The message from the ballot boxes is clearly pointing towards pluralism and coexistence. With the appointment of the new government there is a fresh opportunity to revive EU-Turkey relations which entails continuation of the reforms, first and foremost preparing a new constitution. But what is equally important is the way this constitution will be adopted. Process and outcome are both necessary criterion for a legitimate constitution. How the constitution is made as well as what it says both matters! A genuine public debate is a condition for a good result. The agendasetting needs to be placed in the hands of the public in order to create an open constitutional conversation. 1

2 Freedom of speech and assembly, personal security and social inclusion are all requirements for a genuine public participation. Good channels of communication between all levels of society facilitate this process. Of course traditional media has an important role to play, but equally important is the communication through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, where the individual citizen can express hers or his views in a direct and uncensored way. Moreover, the Turkish civil society will play a key role in channelling the views of the public to the Turkish authorities and in offering the civic education that will be needed if the ordinary citizen should get involved. In order to make sure that as many as possible get their voices heard, the adoption process needs to be made in an organised and structured manner. Only a substantial commitment of time and resources will make a genuine public participation feasible. But, the importance of consulting civil society should of course not be limited to the new constitution. Participatory democracy is a core element of the EU, and the EU encourages citizens and/or their representative bodies to actively participate in social and political life. Broad citizen participation fills the system with life at all stages, from agenda-setting to implementation and monitoring. This is also of key importance to fulfilling and sustainably anchoring the Copenhagen political criteria in Turkey, before accession. The Commission is strongly in favour of a general policy of public consultation on all public policies to foster sustainability of reforms. In particular for those that have a direct link with the accession process. Experience from the EU s own legislative decision-making procedures show the importance of such frequent consultation with various groups representing different interests to ensure the best quality, effectiveness and legitimacy of new legislation. Turkey s accession process is a highly demanding task that can and should not be imposed by either Brussels or Ankara. Instead it needs to be prepared, explained, understood and internalised not only by the public 2

3 bodies concerned, but also by the individual citizen, in both Turkey and in the EU Member States. Here, the Dialogue between the civil societies in Turkey and in the EU Member States plays a significant role in generating mutual knowledge and understanding and in ensuring a stronger awareness of opportunities and challenges with EU accession. Government and Parliament need to open up the playing field for the different actors of the civil society in their policy-making and ensure an enabling environment for civil society. But it is also up to civil society to put their arguments in an accessible and convincing manner. Many civil society organisations in Turkey still lack the strategies and skills to make their advocacy work efficiently. This needs to change in order to make sure that policy-making becomes a truly bottomup process. Now, let me turn to Turkey s overall progress in the accession negotiations. The Commission is currently preparing the 2011 Progress Report, which will be published on 12 October. It is no surprise that the issue of freedom of speech will mark some of the comments on the political criteria, The Commissioner and the Commission have made very clear statements and have taken actions on this issue which I do not need to repeat; There is more interest than ever in foreign policy cooperation. We have seen the intensity of Turkish Foreign policy activity by opening diplomatic representations all around the world, taking mediation initiatives and supporting business development. This is a positive development since the challenges of our neighbourhood are common and frequent consultation will help align with each other. Since this afternoon we will discuss the economic and social issues as well as energy, I would just highlight that The fundamentals of the economic and trade relationship are positive: trade figures (42% of trade is with EU MS), economic ties and mutual investments (EU accounts for % of FDI in Turkey, investments by Turkey in EU MS are also noticeable) illustrate the already deep and increasing integration of the EU 3

4 and Turkey, largely thanks to the highly successful Customs Union. Exchanges of students ( Erasmus students in 2009) and researchers and cultural dialogue grow at a strong pace. Turkey has withstood well the challenges of the economic crisis and is showing very promising signs of a strong recovery although there are some concerns of the size and growth of the current account deficit, We also share the same challenges of energy security. The vehicle of our cooperation is the Nabucco, the creation of which has significantly advanced with the signature of the IGA by all participating countries and PSA s between the participating countries and the NIC and the first meeting of the Nabucco Committee in June this year in Turkey. Cooperation in education and culture also became more extensive and intensive. The exchanges of students in the framework of the different EU educational exchange programs Erasmus (4000 annually), Life Long Learning ( in 2010), Comenius, Jean Monnet Scholarships (since ), Leonardo and researchers and cultural dialogue grow at a strong pace, thanks also to Istanbul being one of the European Cultural Capitals and as a result of our EU cultural cooperation programs in literature, theatre and art (namely Kaleidoscope and Cultural Bridges). Even in the area of visas, which we will discuss tomorrow, the consulates of the EU Member States in the year of peak demand (2008) issued more than 700,000 visas to Turkish citizens, the harmonisation of the type and number of documents necessary for Schengen visa applications is making progress, EU MS have put into practice facilitation arrangements for certain groups of travellers, like businessmen. We have harmonised the coverage period of travel insurance underwritten by Turkish companies to the flexibility elements of the validity of the Schengen visas. Before concluding a few words on the chapters. 13 chapters have been opened for negotiations and 1 chapter has been provisionally closed. Due to the well known political circumstances (the inconclusive comprehensive talks on Cyprus under the auspices of the UN and the non implementation of the Additional Protocol by Turkey, as well as the political constraints of the recent elections) the negotiations aiming at the opening 4

5 of further chapters could continue in the areas of competition (state aid), public procurement, employment and social affairs, education and culture as well as energy. The content of these chapters are at the heart of economic policy and social partners have an important role to play in expressing their opinion and that of their members. On the state aid part of competition policy chapter which two consecutive EU presidencies made important efforts to open, I can say that: EC and TK have been holding fruitful technical discussions for to discuss relevant technical information to be provided by TK to meet all (6) opening benchmarks. Discussions have also taken place at political level to speed up talks and keep the process on track. Enormous progress can be recorded through the adoption of the law and the setting-up of the State Aid Authority, its staff and operations. We are now awaiting the adoption of the implementing regulations that will enable the Authority's effective operability from the implementation side. We expect the Authority/new monitoring system to address schemes not in line with EU rules and bring them in conformity, hoping that no new schemes will be adopted at odds with EU competition rules. The above should enable progress in discussions, but it is still not clear at this juncture when this chapter can be opened. Turkey could open the public procurement chapter if a number of measures were put into place and a detailed action plan for the gradual repealing of all exemptions to the procurement regime were to be presented and agreed with the Commission. A law repealing exemptions to your public procurement legislation would also need to be adopted by the Parliament and measure that increase the differences should be avoided The opening of chapter social policy and employment hinges on the adoption of trade union legislation in line with EU standards and ILO Conventions. However, discussions with the social partners on the adoption of a new primary law on trade union rights need to be pursued. 5