EU foreign ministers finally agreed on the negotiation framework for Turkey's bid yesterday and membership talks formally began. Foreign minister Abdullah Gul went to Luxembourg late Monday to attend the ceremony that marked the start of accession talks. Last minute talks were fraught as the UK and others worked hard to convince Austria to drop its objections to Turkey's full membership. Austria had been insisting that the EU offer hope of a 'privileged partnership' status instead.
The final version of the agreed framework document stresses that the negotiations will be based on Turkey's own merits and the pace will depend on her progress in meeting the requirements of membership. The framework document added that the shared objective of negotiations is accession, that these negotiations are an open-ended process, and that the outcome cannot be guaranteed beforehand. Though Austria's proposal for a privileged partnership was not incorporated into the negotiation framework, the document underlines that while having full regard to all Copenhagen criteria, including the absorption capacity of the Union, if Turkey is not in a position to assume all the obligations of membership she must nevertheless be fully anchored within European structures by various means.
The framework document also noted that in the period up to accession, Turkey will be required to progressively align its policies toward third countries and its positions within the international organisation. This article effectively requires Turkey not to block the Cyprus from joining international organisations such as NATO. Jack Straw, UK foreign secretary and EU term President, called on Turkey to fully and effectively implement the EU-oriented reforms. Straw added the EU will pay special attention to the issues such as religious and cultural rights, freedom of expression, the situation in south-eastern Turkey, and civil-military relations. Speaking in Luxembourg , Gul said that Turkey would continue to implement the reforms in an effective way.
The next step will be a screening process that is expected to start in October. During the screening process legislation of a candidate country is compared with that of the EU. At the same time, the negotiations on each chapter will be opened. A total of 35 chapters will be negotiated between the EU and Turkey, failure on any of which would scupper membership. It could be 10 years before Turkey reaches the end of the road.