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Council Decision of 18 February 2008 on the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the Accession Partnership with the Republic of Turkey and repealing Decision 2006/35/EC (2008/157/EC)

EU Decision 2008/157 · Adopted 18 February 2008 · Extends to United Kingdom

Original text. legislation.gov.uk does not revise this item, so later amendments are not shown here. Changes made to it are listed under each provision when known.

Council Decision

of 18 February 2008

on the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the Accession Partnership with the Republic of Turkey and repealing Decision 2006/35/EC

(2008/157/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 390/2001 of 26 February 2001 on assistance to Turkey in the framework of the pre-accession strategy, and in particular on the establishment of an Accession Partnershipf1, and in particular Article 2 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

(1)

Regulation (EC) No 390/2001 provides that the Council is to decide, by a qualified majority and acting on a proposal from the Commission, on the principles, priorities, intermediate objectives and conditions contained in the Accession Partnership, as it will be submitted to Turkey, as well as on subsequent significant adjustments applicable to it.

(2)

On that basis the Council adopted an Accession Partnership with Turkey in 2001 and 2003f2.

(3)

The Commission’s 2004 recommendation on Turkey stressed that the European Union should continue the monitoring of the political reform process and that a revised Accession Partnership should be proposed in 2005. Following that, the Council adopted a revised Partnership in January 2006f3.

(4)

In December 2004 the European Council concluded that the European Union would continue to monitor closely progress of the political reforms on the basis of an Accession Partnership setting out priorities for the reform process.

(5)

On 3 October 2005 the Member States started negotiations with Turkey on its accession to the European Union. The progress of the negotiations will be guided by Turkey’s progress in preparing for accession, which will be measured, inter alia, against the implementation of the Accession Partnership, as regularly revised.

(6)

The Commission’s Communication on Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2006-2007 indicated that the Partnerships would be updated at the end of 2007.

(7)

On 11 December 2006 the Council agreed that the Member States within the Intergovernmental Conference would not decide on opening eight chapters covering policy areas relevant to Turkey’s restrictions as regards the Republic of Cyprus, nor would they decide on provisionally closing chapters, until the Commission verified that Turkey had fulfilled its commitments related to the Additional Protocol.

(8)

On 17 July 2006 the Council adopted Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 establishing an instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)f4, which sets out a new framework for financial assistance to pre-accession countries.

(9)

It is therefore appropriate to adopt a revised Accession Partnership which updates the current Partnership in order to identify renewed priorities for further work on the basis of the findings of the 2007 Progress Report on Turkey’s preparations for further integration with the European Union.

(10)

In order to prepare for membership, Turkey should develop a plan with a timetable and specific measures to address the priorities of the Accession Partnership.

(11)

Decision 2006/35/EC should be repealed,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Annotations to the whole text

Footnotes

f1

OJ L 58, 28.2.2001, p. 1.

f2

Decision 2001/235/EC (OJ L 85, 24.3.2001, p. 13) and Decision 2003/398/EC (OJ L 145, 12.6.2003, p. 40).

f3

Decision 2006/35/EC (OJ L 22, 26.1.2006, p. 34).

f4

OJ L 210, 31.7.2006, p. 82.

Contents

  1. 1Article 1
  2. 2Article 2
  3. 3Article 3
  4. 4Article 4
  5. Signature
  6. Annex: TURKEY 2007 ACCESSION PARTNERSHIP
  7. 1INTRODUCTION
  8. 2PRINCIPLES
  9. 3PRIORITIES
  10. SHORT-TERM PRIORITIES
  11. Political dialogue
  12. Democracy and the rule of law
  13. Public administration
  14. Civilian oversight of the security forces
  15. Judicial system
  16. Anti-corruption policy
  17. Human rights and the protection of minorities
  18. Observance of international human rights law
  19. European Court of Human Rights
  20. Promotion and enforcement of human rights
  21. Civil and political rights
  22. Prevention of torture and ill-treatment
  23. Access to justice
  24. Freedom of expression
  25. Freedom of assembly and association
  26. Civil society organisations
  27. Freedom of religion
  28. Economic and social rights
  29. Women’s rights
  30. Children’s rights
  31. Labour rights and trade unions
  32. Anti-discrimination policies
  33. Minority rights, cultural rights and protection of minorities
  34. Cultural rights
  35. Situation in the east and south-east
  36. Internally displaced persons
  37. Regional issues and international obligations
  38. Cyprus
  39. Peaceful settlement of border disputes
  40. Obligations under the Association Agreement
  41. Economic criteria
  42. Ability to assume the obligations of membership
  43. Chapter 1:Free movement of goods
  44. Chapter 3:Right of establishment and freedom to provide services
  45. Chapter 4:Free movement of capital
  46. Chapter 5:Public procurement
  47. Chapter 6:Company law
  48. Chapter 7:Intellectual property law
  49. Chapter 8:Competition policy
  50. Chapter 9:Financial services
  51. Chapter 10:Information society and media
  52. Chapter 11:Agriculture and rural development
  53. Chapter 12:Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy
  54. Chapter 13:Fisheries
  55. Chapter 14:Transport policy
  56. Chapter 15:Energy
  57. Chapter 16:Taxation
  58. Chapter 18:Statistics
  59. Chapter 19:Social policy and employment
  60. Chapter 20:Enterprise and Industrial policy
  61. Chapter 22:Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments
  62. Chapter 23:Judiciary and fundamental rights
  63. Chapter 24:Justice, freedom and security
  64. Chapter 26:Education and Culture
  65. Chapter 27:Environment
  66. Chapter 28:Consumer and health protection
  67. Chapter 29:Customs Union
  68. Chapter 30:External relations
  69. Chapter 31:Foreign, security and defence policy
  70. Chapter 32:Financial control
  71. MEDIUM-TERM PRIORITIES
  72. Economic criteria
  73. Ability to assume the obligations of membership
  74. Chapter 2:Freedom of movement for workers
  75. Chapter 3:Right of establishment and freedom to provide services
  76. Chapter 5:Public procurement
  77. Chapter 6:Company law
  78. Chapter 7:Intellectual property law
  79. Chapter 8:Competition policy
  80. Chapter 10:Information society and media
  81. Chapter 11:Agriculture and rural development
  82. Chapter 12:Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy
  83. Chapter 13:Fisheries
  84. Chapter 14:Transport policy
  85. Chapter 15:Energy
  86. Chapter 16:Taxation
  87. Chapter 18:Statistics
  88. Chapter 19:Social policy and employment
  89. Chapter 21:Trans-European networks
  90. Chapter 22:Regional policy and coordination of structural policy instruments
  91. Chapter 24:Justice, freedom and security
  92. Chapter 27:Environment
  93. Chapter 28:Consumer and health protection
  94. Chapter 29:Customs Union
  95. Chapter 32:Financial control
  96. 4PROGRAMMING
  97. 5CONDITIONALITY
  98. 6MONITORING