EU Member Countries Ambassadors business luncheon was held at the TOBB Twin Towers through Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), the Economic Development Foundation (IKV), the EU Delegation to Turkey cooperation. During the luncheon hosted by TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, Turkey-EU relations were discussed.

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated in his speech that the business world supports Turkey's EU membership process. Stating that in its history of over 50 years, the greatest achievement of the EU has been the “enlargement” process, Hisarcıklıoğlu said: “The enlargement process has extended democracy, stability, security and prosperity throughout the European Continent. Therefore, enlargement provides gains not only for the countries participating in the Union, but also for the countries within the EU. We, as the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, as the business world, support Turkey’s EU accession process for this reason. We think that the revitalisation of the process is important for both Turkey and the EU.”

By expressing that the scope of the Turkey-EU relations has been narrowed as of October 2018, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated: “The joint statement made following the EU-Turkey Leaders Meeting on 29 November 2015 was comprised of following issues: The acceleration of accession talks, the opening of new chapters, modernisation of Customs Union, visa liberalisation, Turkey-EU high-level economic dialogue, fight against terrorism, Turkey-EU summits- two annual summits, migration and Syrian refugees, a high-level energy dialogue, high-level political dialogue. These and similar topics which would bring Turkey closer to EU membership were on the agenda at the time. At the Varna Summit on 26 March 2018 however, the list of topics, unfortunately, has gotten very narrow. Refugees/immigrants, fight against terrorism, rule of law in Turkey, Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, as well as Syria, were taken up in the list. As Turkey and the EU are economic partners, this situation is extremely sad for the business world.”

-IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu

IKV Chairman Ayhan Zeytinoğlu gave information regarding the projects carried out by the foundation. After having emphasised that IKV aims to create awareness on the conducted projects, Ayhan Zeytinoğlu expressed that huge amount of effort is made for this purpose.

Reminding some important developments related to Turkey’s EU accession period, Zeytinoğlu underlined his hopes that some conflicts that prevent new chapters from being opened would not constitute problems. IKV Chairman Zeytinoğlu expressed that IKV wants immediate solution for the obstacles in the face of the Customs Union, he mentioned that the Customs Union has to be modernised in accordance with the EU.

- Head of EU Delegation to Turkey Ambassador Christian Berger

After having indicated that Turkey and the EU have been collaborating on the issues such as environment, refugees and chambers, Head of EU Delegation to Turkey Ambassador Christian Berger underlined the need for further dialogue between Turkey and the EU during this period.

Berger narrated that the growth in the European economy has been continuing and there has been rise in demand for imports, consumption expenditures and employment. Reminding the reduction in youth unemployment to the level of 14.8 percent, Ambassador Berger drew attention to the fact that the EU has caught the highest employment level up until now.

Subsequent to highlighting the continuation of EU investments in Turkey, Ambassador Berger shared the information that 22,000 European companies have foreign direct investments in Turkey. Underlining the fact that there should be some points guiding the parties in bilateral relations, Berger enunciated that improvements in relations between Turkey and some of the EU Member States are being observed.