Mr. Egemen Bağış's second anniversary of appointment as Chief Negotiator & Minister for EU Affairs

"January 11 marks the second anniversary of my appointment as Chief Negotiator and minister responsible for European Union Affairs. Attached contains selected highlights in our process of alignment with the EU acquis.

I take this occasion to express my thanks to everyone who have helped in this process."

Egemen Bağıþ

Minister for European Union Affairs and Chief Negotiator

10 JANUARY 2011

INFORMATION NOTE

ON THE OCCASION OF THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE APPOINTMENT

OF H.E. EGEMEN BAÐIÞ AS CHIEF NEGOTIATOR AND MINISTER FOR EU AFFAIRS

• Today is the second anniversary of my appointment as the first exclusive Chief Negotiator and Minister for EU Affairs. Assuming such a pivotal role in our EU accession process, which is my country's biggest modernisation project after the proclamation of the Republic, has not only been an honour but also a serious responsibility.

• Taking this opportunity, I would like to express my gratitude to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who has bestowed upon me this task.

• In that last few years, we have carried out determined and solid work. Despite problems, discouraging remarks from abroad and pessimism at home; we remained firmly committed to the accession process.

• Türkiye's accession takes place against the backdrop of serious obstacles: 17 chapters are subject to political blockade by some EU Member States, which we consider unfair and unproductive in Turkish-EU relations. This means, excluding the 13 chapters which have been provisionally opened up to now, there are only 3 chapters left that can be opened out of 20.

• These three chapters are Competition Policy, Public Procurement and Social Policy and Employment - all of which are indeed difficult areas in terms of compliance. Many other candidate countries have left them to the very end of negotiations.

• If there had been no political blockades, we would have started negotiations on 12 chapters in the short-run and 4 in the medium-run. Similarly, we would close 4 chapters in the short-term and 8 chapters in the medium-term. To give a concrete example, the European Commission has confirmed that the closing benchmarks of Chapter 21 on Trans-European Networks have already been met.

• Despite those very concrete facts, we still face bitter criticism of some circles both in Europe and at home. I can only attribute that to their unawareness on the political blockages that we face from some EU Member States or a pointed attempt to ignore just how much reform have been carried out to align with the EU acquis.

• I would like to briefly list the work we have completed in the last two years on the EU accession process. I hope our friends who criticize us would read this list carefully.

• One of my first moves following my appointment was to make the Secretariat General for the EU Affairs (EUSG) a more effective and stronger institution. We have increased our staff and the number of service units with the new Law on the Organisation and Duties of the Secretariat General for the EU Affairs. Now, we have a well-functioning and efficient Secretariat General with 14 Directorates and about 300 personnel.

• We have established new directorates which do not exist in other public institutions and organisations but are extremely necessary in view of our relations with the EU. In this context, we have established the Directorate of Civil Society, Communication and Culture; the Directorate of European Union Law and the Directorate of Translation Coordination.

• We also established our office in Brussels within the Permanent Delegation of Türkiye. We have appointed one Deputy Permanent Delegate and two Counsellors.

• We have opened an office in Istanbul, to place ourselves in proximity of the civil society and business circles.

• In order to further boost our institutional identity, we have created a new logo for the EUSG. It symbolizes a convergence of our two flags - a symbol of our determination on integration.

• We have prepared and implemented the "European Union Strategy for Türkiye's Accession Process" in order to manage the EU accession process more systematically.

• The first pillar of this strategy is the ongoing official negotiation process. Within this content, we fulfil our commitments on chapters, which we can technically open for negotiations.

• The second pillar aims to revive the commitments laid down in Türkiye's National Programme for Alignment with the Acquis. In this vein, we will continue our work for full harmonisation until the end of 2013, regardless of whether the chapters are blocked or not on political grounds.

• Thus the Action Plan that we have prepared contains the laws, secondary legislation and other work envisaged to be completed in all chapters during the 2010-2011 period.

• We have reactivated the EU Internal Coordination and Harmonisation Committee (IKUK), which has been established to monitor and steer the work on harmonisation and implementation during this process. With the participation of the EU permanent contact points of all related public institutions and organizations, a total of eight IKUK meetings were held during the last two years so that we have a close monitoring of the accession process and our commitments.

• Thorough the harmonization work, we have enabled to improve the daily lives of our citizens in many aspects. Three chapters opened in the last two years, namely the Chapters on Taxation, on Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Policy and on the Environment; all have far-reaching effects on the daily life.

• I would like to emphasize that the Chapter on Food Safety and the Chapter on the Environment, constituting nearly one third of the EU acquis, are chapters with which the candidate countries face utmost difficulty since these chapters have serious implications.

• We have issued a Law on Veterinary Services, Phytosanitary, Food and Feed, which aims to provide food safety in all stages from the production to consumption, to ensure healthy and hygienic food for the consumer.

• With the Biosafety Law, which is the first legal arrangement on genetically modified organisms (GMO), we have prevented the use of products with GMOs in baby and children's food.

• We have enacted the necessary legislation in fields affecting public health directly such as improvement of fuel quality, waste disposal and treatment of urban wastewater.

• We have become a signatory to the European Agreement on the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), which envisages the transportation of dangerous materials without harming environment, human health and life.

• Through the establishment of vehicle inspection stations and control stations for weight and dimension, we have increased road safety in Türkiye.

• The use of digital tacographs further improved road safety and removed an important obstacle, which is encountered by our drivers transporting goods in the EU.

• We have revived the interest of the private sector in renewable energy sector through new legal arrangements.

• Awareness on energy productivity has increased with legal arrangements and projects in this area. Measures taken regarding energy productivity have made it possible to lower energy costs.

• The CE marking, which is used in the EU market in relation to product safety, has also started to be used on many products. CE markings are required in many products including elevators, personal protective equipment, gas appliances, building materials, pressurized equipment and boilers.

• Within the context of the Chapter on Competition, we have established the Directorate General for State Aids under the Undersecretariat of Treasury.

• In summary, since January 2009, 25 laws and 108 secondary legislation have been prepared and entered into force within the framework of the EU harmonisation process.

• We have also taken very important steps regarding political reforms, which constitute the third pillar of our enlargement strategy.

• The Reform Monitoring Group (RMG), which was established in 2003 with the aim of monitoring and steering reforms in Türkiye, now meets more regularly. It also holds its meetings all around Türkiye. While the RMG had met 13 times in the 5.5 years from its establishment, it met for 10 times in the last 2 years.

• RMG has also become more effective. A RMG meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the first time on 28 February 2010 in Ankara. This 19th RMG planted the idea of the Constitutional amendment package, which was adopted with the referendum held on 12 September.

• A new legislation that allows 24-hour broadcasting in languages other than Turkish has prepared the ground for 15 radio stations and TV channels which broadcast in local languages.

• Since my appointment as Chief Negotiator, we have strengthened the dialogue with our citizens belonging to different faiths. We have discussed their issues and explored solutions through three meetings with the participation of representatives of these groups. Contrary to the past, our citizens belonging to different faiths now know that they have an open door in Turkish bureaucracy if they want to convey their problems.

• At a time when Roma population are alienated in certain European countries, we have moved forward to solve the issues of our Roma citizens through a TAIEX seminar held last month.

• We received the award on "Promotion of Religious Freedoms and Enhancement of Dialogue among the Cultures" in November 2010 in Brussels. We received this award on behalf of our Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is the defender of tolerance in our country.

• It is a fact that all those pillars have limited impact if not supported by a Communication Strategy, which is the fourth pillar of our EU Strategy. In this context, we have prepared a comprehensive EU Communication Strategy (EUCS).

• Part of this strategy is our efforts to explain Türkiye's arguments to our counterparts in Europe. As the Chief Negotiator, I have paid 76 official visits abroad, the first of which was to Brussels. 20 of these visits were to Brussels.

• During the visits, we have met with decision-makers and opinion-makers. We have met almost with the leaders of the groups in the European Parliament and the members of the European Commission.

• We attended to seminars addressing European universities and think tanks in various European capitals. Through these contacts, we were able to reach European citizens and to convey our arguments to them directly.

• We have met with Turkish- Europeans; with we exchanged opinions about the EU accession process and shared our achievements. We have expressed that we have been considering them as part of our negotiation team by reminding them of their responsibilities in this process.

• We have worked in close cooperation with the Ambassadors of EU Member States and the EU Delegation in Türkiye.

• We arranged socio-cultural activities with their participation. We attended to the ceremony of Rumi's birth in Konya. We watched the Troy show together. We went to Van to attend the Fekiye Teyran Festival.

• For the first time, the EU Ambassadors have participated in the funerals of our martyrs who lost their lives in terrorist attacks. As the Ambassadors witnessed our grief, the EU Member States have increased their support for our fight against terrorism.

• We have put great effort to include our citizens to the EU process. Through our governors and village headmen (muhtar), we have reached from cities, the largest local administrations, to villages and neighbourhoods, the smallest ones.

• We have appointed Deputy Governors in 81 provinces as Permanent EU Contact Points. We now have EU Harmonization, Consultation and Steering Boards under the auspices of our Governors and with the participation of Mayors, Presidents of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Presidents of Universities, Provincial Directors and other relevant public institutions.

• I personally participated in the meetings of the Ankara, Aydin, Istanbul, Izmir, Muğla and Siirt EU Harmonisation, Consultation and Steering Boards.

• Together with the Ministry of Interior, we have created a training programme on the EU for about 1000 District Governors.

• We have sent letters addressing 50,000 village and district head-men indicating our expectations in the EU accession process.

• With the aim of including the municipalities in the EU accession process and to achieve EU standards in municipality services, we have signed a protocol with the Turkish Association of Municipalities on the "Municipalities Preparing for the EU!" Project.

• We have also increased cooperation with Civil Society Organizations. We have held four Civil Society Dialogue meetings, two of them in Ankara and two in Istanbul. Thousands of NGO reps had the opportunity to express their opinions through these meetings.

• In a move to create awareness on European identity, we have celebrated the Europe Day on 9 May with the cooperation of Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, the EU Delegation in Türkiye and the Spanish Embassy of Spain, holding the EU Presidency at that time. We have held a "Bicycle Tour" with the participation of our citizens in Ankara.

• We have had stamps and National Lottery Tickets printed on the occasion of the "Europe Day". With the cooperation of three GSM operators, we have sent text messages on 9 May to all subscribers.

• In order to eliminate misinformation on the EU and inform the public accurately, we have prepared publications to be distributed throughout the country.

• We have issued pamphlets in English, French and German languages about the benefits of Turkish membership to be distributed in member states.

• We have created a web page on Facebook on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the EUSG.

• We held the "2010 Young Translators Competition" and "2010-2011 Young Communicators on the Path to EU Competition" so as to acquaint young people with the EU.

• We have addressed primary school students through the puppet show called the EU Lecture of Karagöz.

• We have carried out the "My City" project which takes place in five cities of Türkiye. Through this project, we have introduced the cultural heritage of Istanbul, Mardin, Trabzon, Konya and Canakkale to a European audience.

• We have held media trainings for the journalists in order to provide them with accurate and up-to-date information on the European Union.

• We have prepared radio- television info-spots to reply to the question of "Why do we want to be a member of the European Union?" These are still on air on national, regional and local televisions and radio channels.

• We have published articles and commentaries on several foreign newspapers such as the Times and Daily Mail. We have given interviews to BBC, France 24 and on many TV channels. Similarly, I have written columns in national newspapers concerning the benefits obtained by Türkiye in the EU membership process or the developments in the EU.

• We have lobbied for Istanbul for 2010 European Capital of Culture and 2012 European Capital of Sport - and Istanbul was awarded in both cases. We have also supported the WOW Cap Istanbul Sail Race and the Eurasia Marathon, which is one of the symbols of intercontinental meeting.

• Our financial and technical cooperation with the EU greatly accelerated over the past two years.

• The EUSG acts as the National Aid Coordinator, responsible for the distribution of the EU funds within the country. In this regard, we have prepared a project package including 34 projects with the budget of 205 million Euros in 2009 and a project package including 33 projects with the budget of 218 million Euros in 2010.

• The EUSG has become the National Authority for the Türkiye-Bulgaria Cross Border Cooperation Programme in June 2010.

• A total of about 9 million Euros of EU grants were distributed in order to reinforce the capacity of the public institutions in different areas such as agriculture and veterinary issues, transport, justice and the judiciary, border security, women and the family, employment, labour, social security, environment and customs in the past two years.

• We finalised our first project on strengthening the civil society dialogue between Türkiye and the EU in November 2009. Within the scope of this project, grants were provided for 119 projects carried out by municipalities, chambers, organizations and charities. Through these projects around 2 million Turkish and EU citizens got together.

• Türkiye has been the top country to make the most use of short-term technical assistance mechanism (TAIEX) provided by the European Commission. In the 2009-2010 period, 15.000 Turkish public officials participated in the TAIEX mechanism.

• Within the framework of TAIEX, apart from the issues relating to the negotiation chapters, we organised seminars on "not very ordinary" issues such as "Use of Power by Law Enforcement Officers", "Fight against Corruption", "Freedom of Expression" and the "Juvenile Legal System".

• With the twinning mechanism provided by the European Commission, we carried out 47 projects amounting to 72.5 million Euros.

• In the last two years, 200 students, consisting of civil servants, students, academicians, civil society representatives and private sector employees, were awarded the Jean Monnet scholarship to study in EU Member States.

• We started scholarship programs with leading educational institutions of the world such as Harvard University and the College of Europe.

Dear Friends,

• The things accomplished cannot be underestimated or undervalued. Today Türkiye is a more liberal, transparent, strong, prestigious and democratic country than it had been two years ago.

• That is why we will continue to work with the same ambition, although some statements and policies of our European Union counterparts are far from encouraging.

• The EU accession process is not a process to be carried out only by our government by its own efforts. It is a process in which individually every person at home or in the street should reach a consensus on the basis of EU standards, democracy, law, economic development, freedom of economic action.

• Before completing my words, I would like to thank those who ensured the progress of the EU accession process with their contributions for the last two years. I would like to express my gratitude to the members of our government, particularly the Prime Minister, deputies in the parliament, bureaucrats, the members of the press who helped us reach the public and finally to my dedicated colleagues at the EUSG.