EU-TURKEY JOINT PARLAMENTARY COMMITTEE
74th Meeting
10-11 April 2014
European Parliament Brussels
DRAFT MINUTES
Thursday, 10 April
09.00 -12.30 Ms Hélène FLAUTRE, Co-Chair of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) in the Chair
Opening remarks The meeting opened on Thursday, 10 April 2014 at 9.00, with Ms Hélène FLAUTRE, Co-Chair of the European Union-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee (EU- Turkey JPC) in the Chair. Ms FLAUTRE welcomed the participants of the meeting and made a short introduction on the latest developments in the EU-Turkey relations, drawing particular attention to widespread concerns in the European Parliament (EP) about the directions the Turkish Government was taking and its attitude towards the European norms in the democratisation process. Following this short introduction Ms FLAUTRE gave the floor to Mr Afif DEMIRKIRAN, Co-Chair of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) who made his opening remarks and expressed his optimism that relations between the two parliaments will be no less constructive and could be even strengthened in the next legislature. 1. Adoption of the draft agenda. It was agreed to start with the first working session and to discuss the draft agenda after the presentations on the EU-Turkey relations.
2. EU-Turkey relations and the state of play of the accession negotiations Mr Stefan FÜLE, European Commissioner for Enlargement started his intervention by emphasising that the timing was perfect for an exchange of views on this subject. The Commissioner noted a renewed momentum in the EU-Turkey relations (opening of Chapter 22, signing of the readmission agreement and developments in the dialogue on visa liberalisation, enhanced energy cooperation, trade relations and the strategic dialogue and cooperation in foreign policy), which lasted until the end of 2013. He regretted, however, that after December 2013 more and more developments in Turkey became a cause of concern to its European partners, namely the new legislation concerning the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK), which reversed the reforms made in consultation with the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe, massive dismissals and transfers of policemen, judges and prosecutors, which posed questions on the effectiveness of the fight against corruption, and the situation concerning the freedom of media. All these developments will have to be reflected in the next Progress Report; moreover the Commissioner expressed the view that in order to avoid further causes for concern or misunderstandings, both the EU and Turkey must change the way in which they cooperate. The EU and Turkey must intensify their dialogue on all areas of law making, which are essential for accession, and particularly the enhanced cooperation on rule of law and fundamental rights would help to prevent what seems to be the biggest obstacle for close EU-Turkey relations, he stated. Ambassador Theodoros SOTIROPOULOS, Permanent Representative of the Hellenic Republic to the EU, on behalf of the Presidency-in-Office of the Council of the EU, agreed with Commissioner Füle that the JPC was held at the key point in time. He underlined that Council saw Turkey as a key partner and that the EU was determined to reach progress in negotiations, if Turkey met the requirements and respected the contractual obligations. He identified the main areas of concerns of the Council regarding Turkey: separation of powers, freedom of expression and independence of judiciary. On the other hand, Mr Sotiropoulos underlined that the EU and Turkey were very successful
2/12 in the field of foreign policy cooperation and noted that the EU expected Turkey to commit unequivocally to good neighbourly relations. Mr Mevlüt ÇAVUŞOĞLU, Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator, on behalf of the Government of Turkey, started his speech by noting that in various committees and subcommittees work was on-going in Turkey even on Chapters that had not been open. He called for the opening of Chapters 23 and 24 as soon as possible and stressed that there was widespread consensus on that - if Turkey was not in line with the EU in these areas, it needed to negotiate these Chapters and align its legislation. Mr Çavuşoğlu acknowledged that regarding the areas of concern - justice, human rights, freedom of expression - Turkey needs to do some work and informed about the 5th reform package, which contained certain modifications to prevent violations of international conventions. In the subsequent debate Ms Ria OOMEN-RUITEN, the EP rapporteur on Turkey, expressed her disenchantment with the latest developments in Turkey and noted that in the last meetings of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and in the Plenary, where the EP resolution was debated, the general atmosphere was very negative, with many MEPs who had always been friends of Turkey taken by surprise by the last moves of the Turkish Government. Ms Oomen-Ruiten underlined that Turkey did not necessarily need the opening of Chapters 23 and 24 in order to advance reforms in these areas - the Copenhagen criteria are known and that's the main reference. In response several Members of the Turkish JPC Delegation regretted that, according to them, double standards were used regarding democracy in Turkey and other countries, while other participants in the debate denounced a crisis in the Turkish Government and its value system. Mr Füle intervened by explaining that he saw two striking elements concerning democracy in Turkey - first, conspiracy theories are widely used as an excuse by the authorities and, second, democracy is understood as a series of elections, where people empower the parties and therefore strong institutions as well as checks and balances system lose their importance. He concluded the debate by agreeing with Mr Çavuşoğlu to have a discussion on how to handle the period before the publication of the next progress report and how to use the potential of the existing working groups in order to resolve the pending issues.
Mr İlhan YERLİKAYA, MP, touched upon the issue of freedom of expression. He said that the ban on Twitter has to do with the protection of personal rights, not freedom of
3/12 media or freedom of expression. The state of media freedom and the freedom of expression, he added, is very good. He emphasised that as the former deputy head of the Supreme Board of Radio and Television, he knows that the accessibility of the media platforms have been improved to a great extent in Turkey. Internet is the main platform where everyone can express their thoughts freely according to him. Moreover, he indicated that the number of newspapers went up to 3,500, while the number of TV and radio channels exceeded 1,700. Even a political party, which obtained 0.01 per cent of the votes, could take advantage of these media platforms, he added. In this regard, he disagreed that freedom of expression is restricted in Turkey. He stated that the decision on Twitter was taken, because an international company refused to implement a court judgment in Turkey. Finally, he noted that as soon as the company in question implements the judgment, which has to do with the right to privacy, the ban on Twitter will be lifted.
Members participating in the debate: Ms Ria Oomen-Ruiten (MEP), Mr Ali Şahin (MP), Mr Andrew Duff (MEP), Mr Ercan Candan (MP), Mr Aykan Erdemir (MP), Mr Yıldırım Ramazanoğlu (MP), Mr Nazmi Gür (MP), Ms Halide İncekara (MP), Ms Arlene McCarthy (MEP), Mr İlhan Yerlikaya (MP), Ms Şafak Pavey (MP). *** As agreed at the beginning of the meeting, the Draft agenda was discussed at the end of the first working session. On a proposal of the Co-Chairs it was agreed to move all the agenda items to Thursday and therefore cancel the Friday morning session; item 6 on the "EU-Turkey Customs Union, Free Trade Agreements and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership" would be discussed immediately after item 4 "Reform of Judiciary in Turkey, Democratisation and Prospects of Opening Chapters 23 & 24".
3. Approval of the draft minutes of the 73rd EU-Turkey JPC, 5-6 December 2013, Ankara Minutes of the 73rd meeting were approved unchanged. *** 14.30 - 18.30 Mr Afif DEMIRKIRAN, Co-Chair of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee in the Chair
4/12 4. Reforms of Judiciary in Turkey, Democratisation and Prospects of Opening Chapters 23 & 24 Mr Demirkiran introduced the three speakers from the Turkish Ministry of Justice who would be presenting the reforms in the field of judiciary and democratisation, including the 5th Democratisation package, in the absence of the Minister of Justice Mr Bekir Bozdağ. Dr. Ekrem ÇETİNTÜRK, Deputy Director General of Laws and Resolutions in the Ministry of Justice of Turkey, started with the prospects of opening Chapters 23 and 24 and presented the achievements of the Ministry of Justice (creation of the framework for the Ombudsman, better application of basic rights, regular referral to the ECHR by some courts and on-going work in other areas). Regarding international cooperation he argued that in the area of justice, Turkey is actively participating in EU projects, but Mr Çetintürk acknowledged, that harder work was needed in order to avoid problems with regard to data and information exchange with other EU countries and to ensure efficient international cooperation. Furthermore, he emphasised that the Ministry of Justice works in close cooperation with the Ministry of EU Affairs. Regarding criticism on Turkey vis-à-vis the social media and freedom of expression, Mr Çetintürk claimed that criticism on the latest reforms was a result of disinformation, or at least a misunderstanding and lack of information. Three working meetings have been scheduled starting in May 2014 so that representatives of the Turkish justice system could explain the reforms to the EU partners; Mr Çetintürk presented the Turkish Government's justification for closing Twitter and YouTube. Concerning the democratisation process, the 3rd to 5th reform packages were introduced: they include, inter alia, changes regarding the judicial monitoring of the Military Supreme Council and proceedings against civil servants, changes concerning the Constitutional Court (introduction of the individual appeal in case of breach of fundamental rights), decrease of people in pre-trial detention and journalists in prison, removal of the ban of certain publications, setting up of a Department of Human Rights, establishment of a special committee for pending files, introduction of the presumption of innocence etc. Ms Hélène FLAUTRE commented that the EP has always been following very closely those reforms and was happy to see progress, but that there also were alarming developments, e.g. the reform of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) and
5/12 the Internet Law. She underlined that the HSYK reform was a genuine contra-reform, and regretted that after years of pedantic work on the reforms of judiciary, the latest amendments were passed in haste and in a very tense atmosphere. Regarding this issue, the representative of the Ministry of Justice replied that the controversial parts had been analysed and removed or corrected and the final text completely differed from the draft text criticised by the EU. Mr Jean-Christophe FILORI, Head of Unit - Turkey, DG Enlargement, European Commission, discussed in detail the recent reforms of the judiciary which became a cause for concern to Turkey's European partners. He agreed that the final legislation was corrected; however, it was not sufficient to correspond to European standards. He underlined that legislation, adopted in the beginning of 2014 by the Turkish Parliament, reversed the amendments passed in 2010, which back then were broadly supported by the European Commission. The earlier amendments had brought the Turkish legislation much closer to European standards, while in 2014 the HSYK was again significantly weakened by putting it under the control of the Minister of Justice. This raised serious concerns as to the independence and impartiality of the judiciary in Turkey and as to the separation of powers. Another major concern mentioned by Mr Filori - Turkish people's perception of the country's judiciary after the December 2013 events. He warned that massive transfers of police officers, judges and prosecutors constituted a risk to the proper conduct of investigations and trials. In addition, the Internet Law, which gave powers to shut down websites without court decision, blocking of Twitter and YouTube constituted a real violation of freedoms of media and expression. Mr Filori informed that according to the analysis of the European Commission, the motives and justifications presented by Turkey could not be considered as sufficient arguments for taking such steps. According to him, these important issues showed that there was a genuine need to intensify cooperation with the Turkish colleagues, in concrete terms - under the positive agenda, in particular in the framework of the working group on Chapter 23, and by the upcoming peer assessments. Mr Filori concluded that the EU was ready to discuss all these issues and questions and welcomed the openness of Mr Çavuşoğlu for such a debate.
The subsequent discussion concentrated on the state of democracy in Turkey, with Members arguing that not much progress had been achieved in the last years and that one of the biggest obstacles was the "mentality of banning" that existed in the country. Mr
6/12 Şahin explained that Twitter ban was applied in order to protect individual rights of Turkish citizens, which was followed by an in-depth debate on the Turkish authorities' justifications of the Twitter ban and the substantially differing European and international practices in protecting individuals from defamation and similar crimes.
Members participating in the debate: Mr Andrew Duff (MEP), Mr Lütfü Türkkan (MP), Mr Umut Oran (MP), Mr Aykan Erdemir (MP), Mr Oğuz Oyan (MP), Mr Ali Şahin (MP).
5. EU-Turkey Customs Union, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Mr Murat YAPICI, Director General for EU Affairs in the Turkish Ministry of Economy presented the Turkish perspective on the EU-Turkey Customs Union and the Free Trade Agreements. The presentation focused on the structural problems of the Customs Union (lack of Turkish participation in the decision making, restrictions regarding the transportation of goods, FTAs signed by the EU, but not Turkey) and possible solutions (inclusion of Turkey in the FTAs and upgrading of the Customs Union). According to Mr Jean-Christophe FILORI, Head of Unit - Turkey, DG Enlargement, EU-Turkey trade relations have been considerably strengthened since the EU-Turkey Customs Union entered into force in 1995. He informed the participants that on the request of the European Commission, on 8 April 2014 the World Bank released a study on the "Evaluation of the EU-Turkey Customs Union", where it underlined the benefits of the suggested widening of the Customs Union to cover agriculture and services and the need to tackle the existing asymmetries in the decision-making and participation, as for the time being there were no efficient mechanisms that would help to regulate these asymmetries. The European Commission also highlighted the importance of including public procurement and services in the scope of the Customs Union.
In the debate that followed Ms Çiğdem Münnever Ökten (MP) pointed out that the Customs Union did not concern only Turkey, but also the negotiating Balkan countries - their membership would have a positive effect for the whole region. If Turkey was to accede to the EU, the Customs Union provisions had to be applied unconditionally and all the existing barriers had to be removed, to achieve benefits for both parties. Ms Flautre
7/12 invited Turkey to be a critical partner and drew attention to the criticism of the FTAs, while removing all non-tariff barriers could be the cause of a negative environmental, health and social impact.
6. Briefing on the state of play of the negotiations on Chapter 27 (Environment) Mr Nicholas HANLEY, Head of Unit, DG Environment, European Commission briefed the participants on the state of play of the negotiations on Chapter 27, which started in 2009 but, according to Mr Hanley, progress in aligning the environmental and climate change legislation was limited. In April 2013 Turkey amended its horizontal legislation on the environment in a way that was not fully consistent with the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive, by introducing additional exemptions to the EIA. As a result, several large infrastructure projects, including nuclear power plants in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean region, micro hydropower plants, the 3rd bridge and the new airport in Istanbul are excluded from the EIA. The European Commission concludes that instead of moving in the direction of EU standards, Turkey is moving away from the possibility to be able to provisionally close Chapter 27 since with the current legislation in force that would hardly be possible. The presentation by Mr Hanley was complemented by Mr Yrjo MAKELA, Deputy Head of Unit for International and Inter-institutional relations in DG Climate Action, considering that negotiations on Chapter 27 includes climate action, where Turkey is not only a key EU partner, but also a global player. Mr Makela underlined that there was a need to work more closely both on international and enlargement processes in order to converge with each other's views. The European Commission welcomed the adoption of both Climate Strategy and Climate Action Plan in Turkey, but called for more clarity and for specific emission targets to be announced. As for the acquis requirements, in his view Turkey's harmonisation is still at the very early stage and very limited progress has been achieved. Mr Cengiz BAYKARA, Head of the Foreign Relations Department, Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation presented Turkey's actions and progress made regarding the opening of Chapter 27 and leading to the official start of negotiations. Mr Hanley commented that the European Commission was taken aback by the lack of communication from the Turkish side after the publication of the last Progress Report, regretting that no sufficient efforts to justify the legislation and actions that, in the EU's
8/12 view, were not in line with the EU acquis and invited to closer cooperation with the European Commission.
In the debate attention was drawn to the environmental problems Turkey is facing - desertification, drastic transformation of the cities, mega infrastructure and other projects, which are carried out without consulting the public. Others, on the contrary, pointed out the achievements, e.g. in waste management and water supply, and argued that the legislation and projects were compatible with the European requirements.
Members participating in the debate: Mr Nazmi Gür (MP), Mr Ebubekir Gizligider (MP), Ms Hélène Flautre (MEP).
7. Date and place of the next meeting The secretariats of both parliaments will be in consultation on the next meeting after the elections of the European Parliament in June 2014 and the constitution of the new EP delegations.
9/12 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS ANNEX 1
TURKISH DELEGATION
Mr Mevlüt ÇAVUŞOĞLU Minister for EU Affairs and Chief Negotiator
Members of Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) Constituency/Party Mr Afif DEMİRKIRAN Co-Chairman Siirt/AK Parti Mr Mehmet Sayım TEKELİOĞLU Member, Chair of EU Harmonization Committee İzmir/ AK Parti Mr Ali ŞAHİN Vice Co-Chairman Gaziantep/ AK Parti Ms Şafak PAVEY Vice Co-Chairman İstanbul/ CHP Ms Halide İNCEKARA Member İstanbul/AK Parti Ms Sevim SAVAŞER Member İstanbul/AK Parti Mr Yıldırım M. RAMAZANOĞLU Member Kahramanmaraş/AK Parti Ms Pelin GÜNDEŞ BAKIR Member Kayseri/ AK Parti Mr Cem ZORLU Member Konya/ AK Parti Mr İlhan YERLİKAYA Member Konya/ AK Parti Ms Çiğdem Münevver ÖKTEN Member Mersin/ AK Parti Mr Faruk IŞIK Member Muş/ AK Parti Mr Ebubekir GİZLİGİDER Member Nevşehir/ AK Parti Ms Mesude Nursuna MEMECAN Member Sivas/ AK Parti Mr Şükrü AYALAN Member Tokat/ AK Parti Mr Ercan CANDAN Member Zonguldak/ AK Parti Mr Aykan ERDEMİR Member Bursa/ CHP Ms Ayşe Eser DANIŞOĞLU Member İstanbul/ CHP Mr Umut ORAN Member İstanbul/CHP Mr Oğuz OYAN Member İzmir/ CHP Ms Zuhal TOPÇU Member Ankara/MHP Mr Ahmet Kenan TANRIKULU Member İzmir/ MHP Mr Lütfü TÜRKKAN Member Kocaeli/ MHP Mr Nazmi GÜR Member Van/ BDP
Grand National Assembly of Turkey-JPC Secretariat Mr Tolga ATİK Vice Director Ms Sinem ŞİRANLI ÇİFTÇİ JPC Secretariat Ms Demet ÜLKER JPC Secretariat Ms Büşra TUNA JPC Secretariat Mr İbrahim YILMAZ JPC Secretariat
Ministry of EU Affairs Mr Ahmet YÜCEL Acting Undersecretary Mr Dr. F.H. Burak ERDENİR Deputy Undersecretary Dr. Fatih HASDEMIR Deputy Permanent Delegate Mr Ege ERKOÇAK Director Ms Fatma CAN SAĞLIK EU Counsellor
10/12 Mr Mehmet Süreyya SÜNER EU Counsellor Ms Seval İSKENDER EU Counsellor Mr Kayhan ÖZÜM EU Counsellor Ms Banu TERZİOĞLU Adviser Ms Ayşegül ER Assistant Expert Ms Ezgi Gizem DURUMEL Assistant Expert Mr Fatih KARADENİZ Chief Security Officer Mr Mete DERİCİ Security Officer Mr Turgut KESEMEN Security Officer
Ministry of Justice Mr Cengiz TANRIKULU Acting Director General Mr Dr. Ekrem ÇETİNTÜRK Deputy Director General Mr Niyazi ACAR Director Mr Ahmet GÜVEN Director Mr Yavuz AYDIN Counsellor Mr Bircan CİHANGİROĞLU Counsellor Mr Nurullah TEKİN Judge
Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation Mr Cengiz BAYKARA Head of Foreign Relations Department
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr Selim YENEL Ambassador, Permanent Delegate Mr Mustafa Osman TURAN Deputy Permanent Delegate Ms Ömür ÜNSAY First Counsellor Ms Pınar ŞENTÜRK SEVİ Head of Department Mr Cemil TAHRALI First Secretary
Ministry of Economy Mr Murat YAPICI Director General Ms Sema ÖZKÜTEN BAYGÜN Chief Commercial Counsellor Ms Nilgün BÜKÜLMEZ Commercial Counsellor Ms Bahar GÜÇLÜ Commercial Counsellor Mr Hakan ARAZ Foreign Trade Assistant Expert
Abreviations: AK Parti :Justice and Development Party (JDP) CHP :Republican People’s Party (RPP) MHP :Nationalist Movement Party (NMP) BDP :Peace and Democracy Party (PDP
11/12 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Members of European Parliament
Ms FLAUTRE Hélène, Greens, France, Co-Chair Ms KOPPA Maria Eleni, S-D, Greece, 1st Vice-Chair Ms Ria OOMEN-RUIJTEN, PPE, The Netherlands, Rapporteur Mr Andrew DUFF, ALDE, Unisted Kingdom Ms Arlene McCarthy, S-D, United Kingdom Mr jaroslaw WALESA, PPE, Poland
Abbreviations EPP European People’s Party (Christian-Democratic Group) S-D Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats ALDE Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Greens/EFA Greens/European Free Alliance
Greek Presidency of the Council of the EU Ambassador Theodoros SOTIROPOULOS, Permanent Representative of the Hellenic Republic to the EU
European Commission Mr Stefan FÜLE, European Commissioner for Enlargement, on behalf of the European Commission Mr Jean-Christophe FILORI, Head of Unit - Turkey, DG Enlargement Mr Nicholas HANLEY, Head of Unit, DG Environment Mr Yrjö Mäkëla, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Climate Action
EP Secretariat Mr Thomas GRUNERT, Head of Unit Ms Ausra RAKSTELYTE, Administrator Ms Marianne LORENTZEN, Assistant
12/12