ISTANBUL
Turkey is a significant player in the energy sector and EU should open the chapter on energy during accession negotiations, head of Foreign Economic Relations Board said Wednesday.
"Turkey has developed its energy market by liberalizing it within the last years. Both public and private institutions showed great efforts to this end. However, European Union has not still opened Turkey's energy charter. EU should immediately open the chapter for negotiations," Omer Cihad Vardan, head of Foreign Economic Relations Board, or the DEIK, said during his speech at the Anadolu Agency-sponsored 21st International Energy and Environment Fair and Conference, ICCI, 2015.
The energy chapter is the 15th title of the EU acquis, and because of the political blockade on the chapter since Turkey's accession negotiations with the EU began in 2005, it has not yet been opened to negotiations. Out of 35 chapters, 14 chapters have been opened and 17 remain blocked, including chapter 17 on economic and monetary policy and chapter 26 on education and culture.
In January, European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told Anadolu Agency that the commission considered energy policy a key issue in its relations with Turkey and the wider region.
Itkonen, who pointed out that the commission believed Turkey was now in a qualified position to start negotiations on chapter 15, said a proposal to start negotiations with Turkey had been offered to the European Council in 2007 by the European Commission, but "the proposal could not rally the required unanimity among the member states until now."
“The commission is discussing this issue with member states on a regular basis, stressing Europe's interest in making progress," she added.
Vardan said that it was time for the EU leaders to open the chapter.
