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Verheugen at TEPAV Günter Verheugen, Former Vice President of the European Union and Advisor to the TOBB President, evaluated the latest developments in EU and EU-Turkey Relations.
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22/07/2010 - Viewed 1583 times ANKARA- Günter Verheugen, Former Vice President of the European Union and Advisor to the TOBB President, evaluated the latest developments in EU and EU-Turkey Relations in a roundtable meeting organized by TEPAV on July 22, 2010.

Referring to the economic and fiscal crisis at the EU, Verheugen stated that the EU has the necessary mechanisms to deal with this crisis which stemmed from structural weaknesses and insufficient reforms and that one prominent mechanism for this was coordinated response, which lies at the heart of the EU system.  Verheugen declared that although there is an impression that some important EU member states recently adopted attitudes that calls the 'solidarity' principle of the EU into question, now there exists an awareness regarding the necessity of implementing common policies. Verheugen added that in line with this perspective, the long-term strategy of the EU is to coordinate macroeconomic policies. Furthermore Verheugen also added that fiscal stability can be achieved via healthy economic policies rather than the functioning of economic operators.

Verheugen referred to  the '2020 Strategy', which sets the new economic strategy of the EU and the economic targets for the year 2020, and stated that this strategy is based on the same principles with the Lisbon Strategy. He added that the 2020 Strategy assumes that the economic globalization would continue and the main target is   to improve the competitiveness of the EU in the globalized world without harming the social structure via increasing R&D expenditures and   investing in human capital. Verheugen also underlined that during the aforementioned process, fighting the climate change would be the major priority and that the EU would not give up the environmental standards   while seeking to improve competitiveness.  Verheugen emphasized that all these factors are of significant importance for SME's as well.

While talking about the 2020 Strategy of the EU, Verheugen argued that the EU would not go back to the old protective policies.

Approaching to the Turkey-EU relations in economic terms, Verheugen stated that Turkey can adopt the 2020 Strategy of the EU despite the existence of some   important challenges like   the low level of R&D expenditures, high energy prices, and dependency on energy imports which are also a matter of serious concern for EU countries.

Referring to the 'excellent' long term perspective of Turkey, Mr. Verheugen argued that the country would not be an economic burden to the EU, as stated by some Europeans recently.  He also declared that there are a number of EU member countries without a fully developed market.

In response to the questions from the audience, Verheugen underlined the following:

-          The biggest challenge for the EU is not the fiscal crisis; but the ageing population, with respect to which Turkey has a significant advantage.

-          It is inexplicable that businesspeople, artists, and students of a country, which has a customs union with the EU, are still subject to visa requirements.

-          The panorama of the Cyprus problem is a history of missed opportunities. The EU has not kept its promises. If the Cyprus problem is not solved, Turkey's EU accession process would fade away.

-          Cyprus problem cannot be solved with public diplomacy; what is needed is silent diplomacy. The solution should not be left to   the Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. A package deal must be prepared, instead. The best package deal prepared so far is the Annan Plan.

-          European Parliament as well as many EU member states supported the 'Direct Trade Regulation' in the past. Because of Cyprus's veto, the Regulation could not be adopted. Therefore, the probability of the adoption of the recent draft the regulation is high if it could be subject to qualified majority.

-          Turkey should concentrate on the substance of the accession negotiations. This would not only secure progress in negotiations but also contribute to the competitiveness of Turkey.

-          Accusations of the USA (Robert Gates, Barack Obama) that EU pushes Turkey towards the east bothers the EU. In this sense, EU would feel the urge to take necessary measures in this respect.

 

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