Ripert says EU can contrıbute to settlement process

Jean-Maurice Ripert, the EU's ambassador to Turkey, acknowledged the progress Turkey has made in terms of adopting reforms and said he hoped the fourth judicial package will deliver even more. Defining the ongoing peace process and the government's continuation of political reforms as two main developments that brought momentum to Turkey's EU accession process, Ripert said they sincerely believed that this course would bring Turkey closer to meeting the Copenhagen criteria. "We are ready to assist if we are asked to, including the IPA (Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance) that could be used in financing some projects for the social, economic and cultural development of the Southeast," Ripert added. Recalling that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had called 2013 a year of trust between Turkey and the EU, Ripert noted that there had already been positive steps allowing bilateral relations to gain momentum.