IKV Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas, IKV Project Manager Çisel İleri and IKV Senior Researcher Selen Akses participated to the panel entitled “Turkey-EU relations: refugee crisis, EU accession process and the Customs Union”, which was organized by the Economic, Social and Political Practice and Research Center of Turgut Özal University on 17 December 2015 at Ankara.

The opening speeches of the panel were delivered by the Rector of Turgut Özal University, Prof.Abdulkadir Şengün and the Vice-Rector, Prof. Muhammet Kösecik. The panel, entitled “Turkey-EU relations: refugee crisis, EU accession process and the Customs Union”, was chaired by former Member of IKV Board of Directors, Prof. Rıdvan Karluk.  

After the opening speeches, the first speaker of the panel, IKV Secretary-General Assoc. Prof. Çigdem Nas gave information on the steps and current situation of Turkey-EU negotiation process and the challenges in Turkey-EU relations. She also touched upon the expectations with EU membership and over the upcoming period.

She drew the attention to the slow pace of the negotiation process by pointing out that so far only 15 chapters have been opened and one closed temporarily. IKV Secretary-General Nas also added that the Chapters which could be opened to negotiations are “Social Policy and Employment”, “Competition” and “Public Procurement” whereas the Chapters which are suggested to be opened are “Judiciary and Fundamental Rights”, “Justice, Freedom and Security” and “Energy”.

IKV Secretary-General Nas also gave detailed information on the negotiation process from the technical point of view. She also highlighted the importance to have a strong political will from the government and civil society of EU Member States and candidate countries. Lastly, she stated that the signature of the Readmission Agreement and the decision to modernize the Customs Union gave impetus to Turkey-EU relations.

The second speaker of the panel, IKV Project Manager Çisel İleri assessed the Progress Reports on Turkey published by the European Commission. Pointing out that the 2015 Progress Report on Turkey constitutes the first example of the new-generation of Progress Reports, IKV Project Manager İleri stressed that, the progress made over the last year for each chapter is evaluated according to four criteria which are as follows: “good progress”, “some progress”, “no progress” and “backsliding”. As for Turkey’s chapter-specific alignment with the EU acquis, it is classified under five separate criteria which are “early stage”, “moderately prepared”, “some level of preparation”, “good level of preparation” and “well-advanced”.

In her presentation, IKV Project Manager İleri pointed out that the areas where Turkey shows signs of backsliding are freedom of expression, freedom to assembly and public procurement. She also highlighted that there were also criticism regarding the independency of the Central Bank, the governance of monetary policy, macroeconomic inequalities, gender equality and quality in education.

Lastly, IKV Senior Researcher Selen Akses gave a presentation on the revision of the Customs Union.  Senior Researcher Akses pointed out to the problems encountered within the current way of functioning of the Customs Union and the need arose to upgrade the Customs Union. The need to revise the framework and the scope of the Customs Union has arisen especially due to changes in the world trading systems and also in Turkey and EU’s economic and trade interests.  

IKV Senior Researcher Akses gave some examples to better illustrate the changes in the global trade system: rise in trade of service and international investments, handling new topics related to trade such as intellectual property rights, competition and public procurement, the emergence of new protectionist measures and non-tariff barriers and the rise of new economic actors in international area. As a result of these changes, it became difficult to find consensus among countries and to progress trade liberalization with the WTO negotiation process. Thus economic actors have turned their focus on regional and bilateral free trade agreements.

In the light of these developments, IKV Senior Researcher Akses stressed that although Turkey has to align its trade policy with EU’s preferential trade regime; Turkey is not included in the decision making process and the negotiations conducted by the EU with third countries.  This creates an asymmetric situation in disfavour of Turkey.

IKV Senior Researcher Akses informed the participants about the need to update the Customs Union and the process that awaits Turkey. Following the decision in May to upgrade the Customs Union, both parties will conduct impact assessments and consultation process with relevant stakeholders. Both parties will need to get the approval from competent authorities to launch the negotiations which are expected to start at the end of the year 2016.