EU hopes for progress in Turkey membership talks

The European Commission hopes that by the end of the German Presidency (end of June), the EU will extend membership talks with Turkey to four new chapters of the accession negotiations, the European Commission’s Spokeswoman for Enlargement Krisztina Nagy said, adding that the EU Foreign Ministers Council is the competent body for taking any decision on the issue.
According to Commission’s sources, the chapter on Industrial Policy could open in the next weeks while three other chapters, “Statistics”, “Finance and Budgetary Policy” and “Financial Control” will open later.
Nagy said the EU has made it clear that any progress in the accession negotiations is linked with the reforms in Turkey and that this applies for every candidate country.
She said that the Turkish side has a plan for the fulfillment of preconditions for accession, noting that the EU does not see that this creates any ”conflicting views”. As regards the screening reports, she noted that the process continues as was decided in December 2006.