123 School Work

EU Turkey realtions

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  Turkey EU relations
  
  The Helsinki European Council held on 10-11 December 1999 was a historic turningpoint in Turkey-EU relations. Turkey was officially recogninsed as a candidate for full membership of the EU. However, the Helsinki summit conclusions has stated that accession negotiations will not start with Turkey until it has lived up to the political criteria laid down by the Copenhagen European Council in June 1993. The criteria to be fulfilled are:
  
       The political criterion includes stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.
       The economic criterion includes the existence of a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union.
       Finally, the candidate countries should be able to live up to the obligations of membership, which include the transposition and implementation of the EU acquis communitaire .
  
  Besides the economic criterion, which this report will deal with, Turkish accession would require a settlement of the country's bilateral disputes with Greece and possibly a resolution of the Cyprus issue. Turkey would also need to improve its human rights regime and at least recognise the cultural rights of the Kurdish minority . Turkey's progress is to be evaluated in 2004, as it was decided at the Copenhagen European Council: "If, in December 2004, the European Council decides, on the basis recommendation of the report, that Turkey fulfils the political Copenhagen Criteria, the EU will open negotiations without delay" . In accordance with the Commission's recommendations in the 2002 Strategy Paper ("Towards the Enlarged Union: Strategy Paper and Report of the European Commission on the Progress Towards Accession by Each of the Candidate Countries"), it was also decided in Copenhagen that in order to assist Turkey towards EU membership, the Union would significantly increase its pre-accession financial assistance for Turkey ...