Question of the Week: Do you think Turkey’s reforms and a political settlement in Cyprus will be sufficient for EU leaders to give the go-ahead for accession talks with Ankara later this year?

Date: 11/03/04

Brian Cowen, Ireland's foreign minister, headed an EU delegation to Ankara this week. We asked him:

"Do you think Turkey's reforms and a political settlement in Cyprus will be sufficient for EU leaders to give the go-ahead for accession talks with Ankara later this year?"

Cowen: This is a very important year in the development of relations between the European Union and Turkey. The European Council will decide in December, on the basis of a report and recommendation from the Commission, whether Turkey fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria.

If the decision is positive, the EU is committed to opening accession negotiations without delay.

The key element in the European Council decision will be the assessment of progress in Turkey's reform process. I have welcomed the very substantial progress made to date by the Turkish government in legislating for reform and repeated this welcome when I visited Ankara for meetings with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül on Monday (8 March).

We also discussed a number of outstanding issues in the reform process and the crucial importance of ensuring practical implementation of the reforms throughout the country.

The European Council in Brussels last December agreed that a settlement of the Cyprus problem would greatly facilitate Turkey's membership aspirations.

The Union has a clear preference for the accession of a united Cyprus and I remain convinced that the only way to achieve this historic objective is on the basis of the proposals drawn up by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The EU strongly supports the secretary-general's efforts. I hope that the parties will redouble their efforts in the negotiating process now under way in Cyprus.

A comprehensive settlement which would enable the accession of a united Cyprus on 1 May is clearly in the interests of the island, of the European Union and of Turkey. It is also in the interests of the development of closer relations between the EU and Turkey.

Question answered by Brian Cowen, Foreign Minister of Ireland.