Bagis decries "unfair" EU negotiation process

Turkey is facing an unfair European Union negotiation process, and could open almost all of its remaining negotiation chapters if only political hurdles were removed, said State Minister and Chief EU Talks Negotiator Egemen Bagis yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the heads of the supreme audit institutions of EU candidate and potential candidate countries and the European Court of Auditors (ECA), Bagis said Turkey's democracy and economy have been undergoing a transformation. "Its constitutional changes particularly include very important elements," he said. "Those elements bring Turkey closer to EU standards." Turkey has only opened 13 of the 32 chapters in its negotiations with the EU. "The remaining 17 chapters have been blocked politically," said Bagis. "As a result of our work, we will open 12 chapters over the next three months. This means we will be able to close 13 chapters. Turkey wants to eliminate political hurdles." While most EU member countries continue to suffer from the economic crisis, Turkey is doing well, he said. "Turkey did its best to fulfill the EU criteria properly and succeeded in most of them," he added. "Turkey has improved in issues such as inflation and unemployment." He commented, "Our European counterparts say that from now on the ball is in Turkey's court. If the ball is in our court, from here on out we want to play quickly. But our partners aren't passing the ball to us like they should." Turkey has no goal but full EU membership, he stressed. "Turkey wants a fair negotiation process. We don't want to shoulder any more (unfair) burdens," he said.