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POSITIVE AGENDA

POSITIVE AGENDA (2012)

The new Positive Agenda aimed at revitalizing Turkey-EU relations was launched by the Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle and the Turkish Minister for European Affairs and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış on the 17 May 2012 in Brussels. The Positive Agenda initiative aims to provide a new dynamism to Turkey’s accession progress since Turkey-EU relations are undergoing a period of stagnation. Within this framework, the Positive Agenda has been launched with the intention to contribute to Turkey’s EU accession process especially by enhancing cooperation and promoting reforms in Turkey in various areas such as fundamental rights, visa liberalization, mobility and migration, trade, energy, counter-terrorism or dialogue on foreign policy. In this context, the EU and Turkey have agreed to establish working groups with the aim to further support and accelerate Turkey's alignment with EU policies and standards under eight chapters, namely;

- Judiciary and Fundamental Rights
- Company Law
- Financial Control
- Statistics
- Consumer and Health Protection
- Information Society and Media
- Justice, Freedom and Security
- Right of Establishment and Freedom to Provide Services

Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle and Minister Egemen Bağış ensured that the Positive Agenda was by no means considered as an alternative to Turkey’s EU membership but a tool to complement accession negotiations and to encourage reforms in Turkey. Concrete work started immediately after the official launch of the Positive Agenda with the gathering of the first working group on Judiciary and Fundamental Rights in May 2012.

According to the 2014 Progress Report for Turkey, the Positive Agenda continued to support and complement accession negotiations through enhanced cooperation in a number of areas of mutual interest: political reforms; alignment with the acquis; dialogue on foreign policy, visas, mobility and migration, trade, energy, counter-terrorism as well as the participation in EU Programmes. The 2014 Progress Report on Turkey also emphasized the need for enhancing high-level contacts between Turkey, the EU and its Member States for further strengthening the cooperation between both parties.

A POSITIVE EU-TURKEY POLITICAL AGENDA (2020)

A more recent attempt for launching a positive agenda between Turkey and the EU was made in October 2020 as a means to overcome the tensions which have strained Turkey-EU relations in 2020 due to disputes over maritime jurisdiction areas in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Cyprus issue and the attempts by the Greek Cypriot Administration and Greece to lock Turkey out of the Eastern Mediterranean have further deteriorated Turkey-EU relations in 2019 and 2020, especially after the launch of the EastMed Project by Greece, the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus, Egypt, and Israel. This prompted Turkey to take steps to defend its own legitimate rights and interests and those of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean. Acting under "Union solidarity" the EU backed Greek and Greek Cypriot claims and sanctioned individuals and entities responsible for the drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, which consisted of a travel ban to the EU and an asset freeze. On 15 July 2019, the Council suspended negotiations on the Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement and agreed not to hold further meetings of the Association Council and Turkey-EU high-level dialogues for the time being. It also decided to reduce  pre-accession funding to Turkey for 2020 and invited the European Investment Bank to review its lending activities in Turkey, notably with regard to sovereign-backed lending. 

In its conclusions of 1 October 2020, the European Council proposed to launch a positive EU-Turkey political agenda with a specific emphasis on the modernisation of the Customs Union and trade facilitation, people to people contacts, high level dialogues, continued cooperation on migration issues, in line with the 2016 EU-Turkey Statement. Moreover, the European Council President together with the European Comission President and with the support of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy was tasked with developing a proposal for re-energising the Turkey-EU agenda to this end.

The European Council convening on 10-11 December 2020 reiterated its proposal for a positive agenda. The Council conclusions stated the following: "The offer of a positive EU- Turkey agenda remains on the table, provided Turkey shows readiness to promote a genuine partnership with the Union and its Member States and to resolve differences through dialogue and in accordance with international law. Such an agenda could cover the areas of the economy and trade, people to people contacts, High level dialogues and continued cooperation on migration issues." Moreover, the European Council invited the High Representative and the Commission to prepare a report on the state of play concerning Turkey-EU political, economic, and trade relations and on instruments and options on how to proceed before the 25 March 2021 European Council meeting.  

The de-escalation in the Eastern Mediterranean and the resumption of the exploratory talks between Greece and Turkey, combined with attempts at normalising relations with some member states such as France and statements by senior Turkish officials confirming that Turkey sees its future witin the EU, facilitated a positive atmosphere in the relations. Both the Commission report and the Leaders' statement adopted at the 25 March European Council meeting indicated that in case "the current de-escalation is sustained, and that Turkey engages constructively", the EU was "ready to engage with Turkey in a phased, proportionate, and reversible manner to enhance cooperation in a number of areas of common interest and take further decisions at the European Council meeting in June". The European Council:

-  invited the Commission to intensify talks with Turkey to address current difficulties in the implementation of the Customs Union, ensuring its effective application to all Member States, and invite in parallel the Council to work on a mandate for the modernisation of the Customs Union;

-  stated its preparedness to launch high level dialogues with Turkey on issues of mutual concern, such as public health, climate and counter-terrorism as well as regional issues;

- invited the Commission to explore how to strengthen cooperation with Turkey on people-to-people contacts and mobility.

Most recently, the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel visited Ankara on 6 April 2021 and discussed with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan four areas in which Turkey and the EU would both benefit from enhanced cooperation:

- The first area is “strengthening economic ties”. In the context of strengthening economic ties, the EU proposes to address the current difficulties in the implementation of the Customs Union and working to modernise its framework, but also boosting public and private cooperation with a focus on the green and digital transitions.

- The second area concerns high-level dialogues. The fight against climate change and public health are drawn out to be the major topics in this context.

- The third area is exploring ways to strengthen cooperation on people-to-people contacts and mobility, via participation in EU programmes such as Erasmus + and Horizon Europe.

- The final area of cooperation concerns refugees and migration.

Last Update: April 2021