Resolution of the Committee of the Regions of 18 November 2004 on the opening of negotiations for Turkey's accession to the EU
Date: 2004-11-18
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: Cyprus, Türkiye, accession negotiations, human rights

22.3.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 71/53

Recommendation 12

Article 5 and throughout the document as appropriate

Text proposed by the Commission

CoR amendment

Translator's note: The proposal is to change the German
term ‘Geschäftsordnung’ (‘Rules of Procedure’) used in this
point to ‘Statuten’ (‘Statutes’). The English-language version
already uses the word ‘statutes’ so the amendment does
not apply.

Statutes

R e a son

The basic principles underpinning the grouping should be laid down in statutes. Rules of procedure, on
the other hand, regulate internal workings. There is nothing therefore to stop the EGTC having rules of
procedure as well as statutes.

Brussels, 18 November 2004.

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Peter STRAUB

RESOLUTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS OF 18 NOVEMBER 2004 ON THE
OPENING OF NEGOTIATIONS FOR TURKEY'S ACCESSION TO THE EU

(2005/C 71/12)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS:

— Having regard to the Communication entitled Recommendation of the European Commission on Turkey's
progress towards accession, presented by the European Commission on 6 October 2004 (COM(2004) 656
final);

— Having regard to the 2004 Regular Report on Turkey's progress towards accession (SEC(2004) 1201);

— Having regard to the Declaration of Ankara adopted by the CoR RELEX Commission and the Union of

Municipalities in Turkey (UTM) on 11 October 2004;

— Having regard to Committee of the Regions' External Relations Strategy as adopted at its extraordinary

Bureau meeting in The Hague on 21 October 2004;

1) welcomes the application of Turkey on equal terms with the applications of other European coun-

tries;

2)

3)

4)

intends to present its views regarding Turkey's accession, from a local and regional perspective, at
appropriate opportunities in the future; and urges the European Commission to consult
the
Committee on future regular reports;

recognises that the reform efforts made by the Turkish authorities during the last years have helped
Turkey to seek to fulfil the Copenhagen criteria, facilitating a decision towards the opening of negotia-
tions for Turkey's accession to the EU;

encourages the Turkish government to press ahead with its challenging reforms in order to achieve
their full implementation as soon as possible in an irreversible and sustainable manner;

5) welcomes the decentralisation efforts undertaken in Turkey, which should be in accordance with the
principles of the Charter of Local Self-Government, as well as the passing of the Local Administration
Reform Law in 2004 which recognises the existence of local administration as the smallest organisa-
tional unit and expects its proper implementation as well as similar efforts concerning the regional
level;

C 71/54

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

22.3.2005

6)

expects that the package on the reform of the public administration - including in particular a Frame-
work Law on Public Sector Reform, a Law on Special Provincial Administration, as well as a Law on
Municipalities and Metropolitan Municipalities - be rapidly adopted after proper consultation of local
and regional authorities' organisations and civil society and verification of its constitutional compli-
ance; stresses the need to provide the relevant local authorities with the necessary financial and
human resources to fully implement the reforms, to pay special attention to the economic and social
development of Turkey's less-favoured regions and to provide for a legal framework on regional devel-
opment policy;

7) underlines that successful implementation of these reforms would underpin Turkey's future EU acces-
sion efforts and therefore strongly supports the view of the European Commission that an impact
analysis, an implementation plan and a budgetary and fiscal framework are needed;

8) welcomes the three-pillar strategy proposed by the European Commission and commits itself to
become an active actor in third pillar dedicated to the strengthening of political, cultural, social and
religious dialogue bringing people closer together; therefore recommends further deepening the
dialogue between the CoR and the Turkish local authorities, building on the CoR's past experience
with previous candidate countries, which will guarantee respect for local democracy and the imple-
mentation of regional decentralisation; on the basis of the European Council decision on Turkey, the
CoR expects the Turkish government, the Council of Ministers and the Association Council to propose
the establishment of a Joint Consultative Committee between Turkish local and regional authorities
and the CoR;

9)

strongly encourages Turkey to take the necessary steps in order to dissipate the pending concerns
underlined in the European Commission's recommendation, and in particular those referring to: the
respect of human rights and the exercise of fundamental freedoms; the zero tolerance of torture and
ill-treatment; the full enjoyment of rights and freedoms by all minorities; respect for all religions (espe-
cially the question of the equal legal status for all churches); zero tolerance of discrimination and
violence against women; respect of ILO standards concerning child labour;

10) calls on the Turkish government to provide determined support to a renewed effort, under the
auspices of the United Nations Secretary General, for reaching a solution on the Cyprus problem,
consistent with the United Nations resolutions, the acquis communautaire and European values and
principles;

11) acknowledges the particular challenges as identified in the European Commission's Communication
arising from Turkey's membership perspective with regard to the future application of the Common
Agriculture Policy, of the cohesion policy and of the free movement of workers;

12) stresses the general objective of the European Union to advance further towards a political Union of
common values and underlines in particular the urgent need to create the necessary financial and
institutional, economic preconditions to successfully prepare the Union for further enlargement;

13) draws attention to the European Commission's conclusion whereby it states that it ‘will recommend
the suspension of the negotiations in the case of a serious and persistent breach of the principles of
liberty, democracy, respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law on which
the Union is founded’ and underlines the Commission's view that Turkey's accession negotiations is
an ‘open-ended process whose outcome cannot be guaranteed beforehand’;

14) instructs its President to forward this resolution, in view of the European Council meeting in Brussels
on 17 December, to the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the European
Commission and the Turkish Parliament and Government.

Brussels, 18 November 2004

The President

of the Committee of the Regions

Peter STRAUB