Turkey’s EU accession gets a boost

By Menekse Tokyay for Southeast European Times–15/06/11

”]At a time when the EU accession process has ground to a near complete halt, Turkey’s government hopes establishing a new ministry will help get things back on track.

The European Union Ministry will take over co-ordination of Turkey’s path towards EU integration, a task currently handled by state minister and chief negotiator Egemen Bagis.

The government has set an ambitious goal: full harmonization with the EU by the end of 2013.

According to retired ambassador Ozdem Sanberk, one of Turkey’s most seasoned diplomats, establishment of the ministry sends an important message both at home and abroad, demonstrating the country’s continued readiness to become a full member of the European Union.

“This proves that coherence and continuity are still the prevalent principles of Turkish foreign policy,” Sanberk told SETimes.

Among outside observers, Turkey’s multi-dimensional regional diplomacy and slow movement towards EU harmonization, along with resistance from EU members Germany and France to Turkey’s accession, have spawned fears that Turkey is sliding away from the West.

At the same time, however, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling AKP party – now going into their third five-year term in power – have a number of important domestic issues to tackle, for which the EU accession process can act as an important anchor. These include writing a new constitution and efforts to resolve the Kurdish problem.

The new ministry will be at the cabinet same level as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As Bagis notes, the EU General Secretariat (EUGS) will now report directly to the prime minister, while the ministry will have full responsibility for the EU portfolio.

According to Sanberk, however, this could lead to some battles for turf among the various ministries and centre of authority, because the new ministry will need to co-ordinate the implementation of the reform process and ensure that other ministries are doing their part.

“This ministry needs to possess, with respect to hierarchy, a certain dominance and authority over other ministries [and this] entails difficulties from the standpoint of the domestic political equilibrium,” he said.

Sebnem Karaucak, editor-in-chief of Kriter Magazine and the chairperson of Eurohorizons Consulting, believes the ministry will nevertheless help iron out many internal obstacles to the accession process.

“It is an important step that will help overcome the constant confusion of responsibilities between relevant institutions since the establishment of EUSG in 2000,” she told SETimes.

Sanberk argues that the responsibility of Ministry of Foreign Affairs should continue at the level of external relations, explaining that the external and internal dimensions of EU accession should not be conceived as compartmentalized, but rather viewed as concomitant to each other.

All functions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should continue in the upcoming period with the same efficiency; and this new process should lead to a close and efficient co-operation and co-ordination between the relevant parties, she said.

Despite the anchor role of the EU in Turkey’s domestic reform process, with so many issues on the domestic agenda and intractable issues like the Cyprus blocking the opening of new Chapters, some question how high EU membership will be on the government’s list of priorities.

Veteran diplomat and diplomacy advisor to CNN-Turk Yalim Eralp told SETimes, “With the AKP’s election win on June 12th, EU relations will fall from the agenda for a while; this will lower the efficacy of the new ministry.”

This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.