NEGOTIATING FRAMEWORK

NEGOTIATING FRAMEWORK

(Luxembourg, 3 October 2005)

Principles governing the negotiations
1. The negotiations will be based on Turkey's own merits and the pace will depend on Turkey's
progress in meeting the requirements for membership. The Presidency or the Commission as
appropriate will keep the Council fully informed so that the Council can keep the situation
under regular review. The Union side, for its part, will decide in due course whether the
conditions for the conclusion of negotiations have been met; this will be done on the basis of
a report from the Commission confirming the fulfilment by Turkey of the requirements listed
in point 6.
2. As agreed at the European Council in December 2004, these negotiations are based on Article
49 of the Treaty on European Union. The shared objective of the negotiations is accession.
These negotiations are an open-ended process, the outcome of which cannot be guaranteed
beforehand. While having full regard to all Copenhagen criteria, including the absorption
capacity of the Union, if Turkey is not in a position to assume in full all the obligations of
membership it must be ensured that Turkey is fully anchored in the European structures
through the strongest possible bond.
3. Enlargement should strengthen the process of continuous creation and integration in which
the Union and its Member States are engaged. Every effort should be made to protect the
cohesion and effectiveness of the Union. In accordance with the conclusions of the
Copenhagen European Council in 1993, the Union's capacity to absorb Turkey, while
maintaining the momentum of European integration is an important consideration in the
general interest of both the Union and Turkey. The Commission shall monitor this capacity
during the negotiations, encompassing the whole range of issues set out in its October 2004
paper on issues arising from Turkey's membership perspective, in order to inform an
assessment by the Council as to whether this condition of membership has been met.
4. Negotiations are opened on the basis that Turkey sufficiently meets the political criteria set by
the Copenhagen European Council in 1993, for the most part later enshrined in Article 6(1) of
the Treaty on European Union and proclaimed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The
Union expects Turkey to sustain the process of reform and to work towards further
improvement in the respect of the principles of liberty, democracy, the rule of law and respect
for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including relevant European case law; to
consolidate and broaden legislation and implementation measures specifically in relation to
the zero tolerance policy in the fight against torture and ill-treatment and the implementation
of provisions relating to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, women's rights, ILO
standards including trade union rights, and minority rights. The Union and Turkey will
continue their intensive political dialogue. To ensure the irreversibility of progress in these
areas and its full and effective implementation, notably with regard to fundamental freedoms
and to full respect of human rights, progress will continue to be closely monitored by the
Commission, which is invited to continue to report regularly on it to the Council, addressing
all points of concern identified in the Commission's 2004 report and recommendation as well
as its annual regular report.
5. In the case of a serious and persistent breach in Turkey of the principles of liberty,
democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and the rule of law on which
the Union is founded, the Commission will, on its own initiative or on the request of one third
of the Member States, recommend the suspension of negotiations and propose the conditions
for eventual resumption. The Council will decide by qualified majority on such a
recommendation, after having heard Turkey, whether to suspend the negotiations and on the
conditions for their resumption. The Member States will act in the Intergovernmental
Conference in accordance with the Council decision, without prejudice to the general
requirement for unanimity in the Intergovernmental Conference. The European Parliament
will be informed.
6. The advancement of the negotiations will be guided by Turkey's progress in preparing for
accession, within a framework of economic and social convergence and with reference to the
Commission's reports in paragraph 4. This progress will be measured in particular against the
following requirements:
− the Copenhagen criteria, which set down the following requirements for membership:
* the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and
respect for and protection of minorities;
* the existence of a functioning market economy and the capacity to cope with
competitive pressure and market forces within the Union;
* the ability to take on the obligations of membership, including adherence to the aims of
political, economic and monetary union and the administrative capacity to effectively
apply and implement the acquis;
− Turkey's unequivocal commitment to good neighbourly relations and its undertaking to
resolve any outstanding border disputes in conformity with the principle of peaceful
settlement of disputes in accordance with the United Nations Charter, including if
necessary jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice;
− Turkey's continued support for efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the
Cyprus problem within the UN framework and in line with the principles on which the
Union is founded, including steps to contribute to a favourable climate for a
comprehensive settlement, and progress in the normalisation of bilateral relations
between Turkey and all EU Member States, including the Republic of Cyprus.
− the fulfilment of Turkey's obligations under the Association Agreement and its
Additional Protocol extending the Association Agreement to all new EU Member States,
in particular those pertaining to the EU-Turkey customs union, as well as the
implementation of the Accession Partnership, as regularly revised.
7. In the period up to accession, Turkey will be required to progressively align its policies
towards third countries and its positions within international organisations (including in
relation to the membership by all EU Member States of those organisations and arrangements)
with the policies and positions adopted by the Union and its Member States.
8. Parallel to accession negotiations, the Union will engage with Turkey in an intensive political
and civil society dialogue. The aim of the inclusive civil society dialogue will be to enhance
mutual understanding by bringing people together in particular with a view to ensuring the
support of European citizens for the accession process.
9. Turkey must accept the results of any other accession negotiations as they stand at the
moment of its accession.
Substance of the negotiations
10. Accession implies the acceptance of the rights and obligations attached to the Union system
and its institutional framework, known as the acquis of the Union. Turkey will have to apply
this as it stands at the time of accession. Furthermore, in addition to legislative alignment,
accession implies timely and effective implementation of the acquis. The acquis is constantly
evolving and includes:
- the content, principles and political objectives of the Treaties on which the Union is
founded;
- legislation and decisions adopted pursuant to the Treaties, and the case law of the Court of
Justice;
- other acts, legally binding or not, adopted within the Union framework, such as
interinstitutional agreements, resolutions, statements, recommendations, guidelines;
- joint actions, common positions, declarations, conclusions and other acts within the
framework of the common foreign and security policy;
- joint actions, joint positions, conventions signed, resolutions, statements and other acts
agreed within the framework of justice and home affairs;
- international agreements concluded by the Communities, the Communities jointly with their
Member States, the Union, and those concluded by the Member States among themselves
with regard to Union activities.
Turkey will need to produce translations of the acquis into Turkish in good time before
accession, and will need to train a sufficient number of translators and interpreters required
for the proper functioning of the EU institutions upon its accession.
11. The resulting rights and obligations, all of which Turkey will have to honour as a Member
State, imply the termination of all existing bilateral agreements between Turkey and the
Communities, and of all other international agreements concluded by Turkey which are
incompatible with the obligations of membership. Any provisions of the Association
Agreement which depart from the acquis cannot be considered as precedents in the accession
negotiations.
12. Turkey's acceptance of the rights and obligations arising from the acquis may necessitate
specific adaptations to the acquis and may, exceptionally, give rise to transitional measures
which must be defined during the accession negotiations.
Where necessary, specific adaptations to the acquis will be agreed on the basis of the
principles, criteria and parameters inherent in that acquis as applied by the Member States
when adopting that acquis, and taking into consideration the specificities of Turkey.
The Union may agree to requests from Turkey for transitional measures provided they are
limited in time and scope, and accompanied by a plan with clearly defined stages for
application of the acquis. For areas linked to the extension of the internal market, regulatory
measures should be implemented quickly and transition periods should be short and few;
where considerable adaptations are necessary requiring substantial effort including large
financial outlays, appropriate transitional arrangements can be envisaged as part of an ongoing,
detailed and budgeted plan for alignment. In any case, transitional arrangements must
not involve amendments to the rules or policies of the Union, disrupt their proper functioning,
or lead to significant distortions of competition. In this connection, account must be taken of
the interests of the Union and of Turkey.
Long transitional periods, derogations, specific arrangements or permanent safeguard clauses,
i.e. clauses which are permanently available as a basis for safeguard measures, may be
considered. The Commission will include these, as appropriate, in its proposals in areas such
as freedom of movement of persons, structural policies or agriculture. Furthermore, the
decision-taking process regarding the eventual establishment of freedom of movement of
persons should allow for a maximum role of individual Member States. Transitional
arrangements or safeguards should be reviewed regarding their impact on competition or the
functioning of the internal market.
Detailed technical adaptations to the acquis will not need to be fixed during the accession
negotiations. They will be prepared in cooperation with Turkey and adopted by the Union
institutions in good time with a view to their entry into force on the date of accession.
13. The financial aspects of the accession of Turkey must be allowed for in the applicable
Financial Framework. Hence, as Turkey's accession could have substantial financial
consequences, the negotiations can only be concluded after the establishment of the Financial
Framework for the period from 2014 together with possible consequential financial reforms.
Any arrangements should ensure that the financial burdens are fairly shared between all
Member States.
14. Turkey will participate in economic and monetary union from accession as a Member State
with a derogation and shall adopt the euro as its national currency following a Council
decision to this effect on the basis of an evaluation of its fulfilment of the necessary
conditions. The remaining acquis in this area fully applies from accession.
15. With regard to the area of freedom, justice and security, membership of the European Union
implies that Turkey accepts in full on accession the entire acquis in this area, including the
Schengen acquis. However, part of this acquis will only apply in Turkey following a Council
decision to lift controls on persons at internal borders taken on the basis of the applicable
Schengen evaluation of Turkey's readiness.
16. The EU points out the importance of a high level of environmental protection, including all
aspects of nuclear safety.
17. In all areas of the acquis, Turkey must bring its institutions, management capacity and
administrative and judicial systems up to Union standards, both at national and regional level,
with a view to implementing the acquis effectively or, as the case may be, being able to
implement it effectively in good time before accession. At the general level, this requires a
well-functioning and stable public administration built on an efficient and impartial civil
service, and an independent and efficient judicial system.
Negotiating procedures
18. The substance of negotiations will be conducted in an Intergovernmental Conference with the
participation of all Member States on the one hand and the candidate State on the other.
19. The Commission will undertake a formal process of examination of the acquis, called
screening, in order to explain it to the Turkish authorities, to assess the state of preparation of
Turkey for opening negotiations in specific areas and to obtain preliminary indications of the
issues that will most likely come up in the negotiations.
20. For the purposes of screening and the subsequent negotiations, the acquis will be broken
down into a number of chapters, each covering a specific policy area. A list of these chapters
is provided in the Annex. Any view expressed by either Turkey or the EU on a specific
chapter of the negotiations will in no way prejudge the position which may be taken on other
chapters. Also, agreements reached in the course of negotiations on specific chapters, even
partial ones, may not be considered as final until an overall agreement has been reached for all
chapters.
21. Building on the Commission's Regular Reports on Turkey's progress towards accession and in
particular on information obtained by the Commission during screening, the Council, acting
by unanimity on a proposal by the Commission, will lay down benchmarks for the provisional
closure and, where appropriate, for the opening of each chapter. The Union will communicate
such benchmarks to Turkey. Depending on the chapter, precise benchmarks will refer in
particular to the existence of a functioning market economy, to legislative alignment with the
acquis and to a satisfactory track record in implementation of key elements of the acquis
demonstrating the existence of an adequate administrative and judicial capacity. Where
relevant, benchmarks will also include the fulfilment of commitments under the Association
Agreement, in particular those pertaining to the EU-Turkey customs union and those that
mirror requirements under the acquis. Where negotiations cover a considerable period of
time, or where a chapter is revisited at a later date to incorporate new elements such as new
acquis, the existing benchmarks may be updated.
22. Turkey will be requested to indicate its position in relation to the acquis and to report on its
progress in meeting the benchmarks. Turkey's correct transposition and implementation of the
acquis, including effective and efficient application through appropriate administrative and
judicial structures, will determine the pace of negotiations.
23. To this end, the Commission will closely monitor Turkey's progress in all areas, making use
of all available instruments, including on-site expert reviews by or on behalf of the
Commission. The Commission will inform the Council of Turkey's progress in any given area
when presenting draft EU Common Positions. The Council will take this assessment into
account when deciding on further steps relating to the negotiations on that chapter. In addition
to the information the EU may require for the negotiations on each chapter and which is to be
provided by Turkey to the Conference, Turkey will be required to continue to provide
regularly detailed, written information on progress in the alignment with and implementation
of the acquis, even after provisional closure of a chapter. In the case of provisionally closed
chapters, the Commission may recommend the re-opening of negotiations, in particular where
Turkey has failed to meet important benchmarks or to implement its commitments.
ANNEX
PRELIMINARY INDICATIVE LIST OF CHAPTER HEADINGS
(Note: This list in no way prejudices the decisions to be taken at an appropriate stage in the
negotiations on the order in which the subjects will be dealt with.)
1. Free movement of goods
2. Freedom of movement for workers
3. Right of establishment and freedom to provide services
4. Free movement of capital
5. Public procurement
6. Company law
7. Intellectual property law
8. Competition policy
9. Financial services
10. Information society and media
11. Agriculture and rural development
12. Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy
13. Fisheries
14. Transport policy
15. Energy
16. Taxation
17. Economic and monetary policy
18. Statistics
19. Social policy and employment(1)
20. Enterprise and industrial policy
21. Trans-European networks
22. Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments
23. Judiciary and fundamental rights
24. Justice, freedom and security
25. Science and research
26. Education and culture
27. Environment
28. Consumer and health protection
29. Customs union
30. External relations
31. Foreign, security and defence policy
32. Financial control
33. Financial and budgetary provisions
34. Institutions
35. Other issues
(1) This chapter includes also anti-discrimination and equal opportunities for women and men.