European Economic and Social Committee

PRESS RELEASE No 014 /2007 / 2 March 2007

European and Turkish civil society representatives met to strengthen relations between the EU and Turkey

On 1-2 March the EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), that brings together representatives from organised civil society in Turkey and the EU, met in Brussels to underline the important role that civil society plays in keeping the negotiation process on track.

The meeting was held in a particularly tense moment after the freezing of negotiations on eight chaptersuntil Turkey fulfils its commitments to the additional Protocol of the Ankara agreement. The meeting gathered around 50 representatives from socio-professional organisations and other civil society organisations in the EU and Turkey.

The actual state of the negotiation process and the role of civil society were largely debated with high level representatives from the EU and Turkey. Mr Dimitriadis,President of the EESC, argued that "Nowadays, in Europe of 27 members states, we finally start considering and discovering that the entity called civil society, constitutes the most crucial and primordial 'material' to rebuild and to regenerate Europe out of its bureaucratic, political and obsolete ashes".

Mr Babacan, Minister of state and chief negotiator of Turkey, honoured the meeting with an intervention together with high level representatives from the European Commission, the Council and the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee. Mr Babacan underlined that despite the decision of the Council of the EU on not openingnegotiations on 8 chapters, Turkey will continue to work on each of the 35 chapters and adopt reform in all areas.

During the discussion, the JCC pointed out the need to strengthen the contacts between civil society in the EU and in Turkey in order to better communicate and diffuse information on Turkey's accession to the EU. They called for adequate assistance from the EU and the Turkish authorities to civil society organisations to participate in the accession process and in the Civil Society Dialogue, initiated in 2004.

Trade union rights in Turkey was another topic discussed on the basis of a joint report that was presented. In the report the JCC regrets that no progresshas been made on trade union rights in Turkeyand that three basic acts of collective labour laware still not in conformity with ILO Conventions.

The possibilities for civil society representatives from Turkey to travel to Europe without going through long and complicated visa procedures were also debated with representatives from the European Commission DG Justice, Freedom and Security and the Council. In this context, the JCC called for the Civil Society

Dialogue between the EU and Turkey to be backed up with visa facilitation measures and urged the Turkish government to sign a visa facilitation agreement with the EU

For information: the EU-Turkey JCC is an official body bringing together representatives of organised civil society in the EU (via the EESC) and Turkey in order to follow the negotiation process from a civil society point of view. They meet twice a year, alternatively in an EU country and in Turkey.

For further information and to obtain the Joint Declaration from the meeting please contact:

Karel Govaert or Christian Weger, EESC Press Office

99 Rue Belliard, B-1040 Brussels

Tel.: +32 2 546 9396/9586; Mobile: +32 475 75 32 02

E-mail:

Internet:

The European Economic and Social Committee represents the various economic and social components of organised civil society.It is an institutional consultative body established by the 1957 Treaty of Rome.Its consultative role enables its members, and hence the organisations they represent, to participate in the Community decision-making process. The Committee has 317 members. Its members are appointed by the Council.