| Author (Person) | Banks, Martin |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.12, 1.4.04 |
| Publication Date | 01/04/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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By Martin Banks Date: 01/04/04 TURKEY should speed up economic reforms that are the biggest obstacle to its EU membership, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe has said. Speaking to European Voice, Walter Schwimmer said that while Ankara has made progress on political reforms, economic preparedness is its Achilles' heel. "Turkey is still very much an agricultural country, much more than any EU member state, and it will have to work hard on economic reforms if it is to join the EU," he said. Schwimmer conceded Turkey has made serious efforts to prepare for membership, but warned "the acid test for Ankara would be the implementation" of the planned reforms. The Austrian added that it would still be "quite a long time before Turkey is ready". His comments come as the European Parliament was today (1 April) expected to give its backing to a report which says Turkey has not yet met the political criteria for EU membership. The report, by Dutch MEP Arie Ooslander, cites a number of areas in which Ankara has not made enough progress, from curbing the influence of the military to increasing the rights of the ethnic Kurds. Many Turks believe the EU is biased against their country because of its mainly Muslim faith and a population of some 70 million, which would make it the second largest member state after Germany. EU leaders will decide in December whether to hold accession talks with Ankara. The country's premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan does not doubt Turkey's readiness to join the EU. "This is an important year for us, the year that we will start accession negotiations," he said last week. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Countries / Regions | Turkey |
