European Union Enlargement: A Status Report on Turkey’s Accession Negotiations

Vincent Morelli
Section Research Manager

October 2011 marked the sixth anniversary of the European Union’s decision to proceed with formal negotiations with Turkey toward full membership in the Union. It also marked the beginning of the annual period when all three European Union institutions—the Council, Commission, and Parliament—provide their assessment of the progress Turkey has made or failed to accomplish in the accession process over the previous year and issue recommendations on whether and how Turkey’s accession process should proceed.

On October 12, 2011, the EU Commission, the first institution to act, issued its annual assessment to the Council and Parliament and on December 5, 2011, the Council issued its “conclusions”. While noting the continued importance of Turkey to the EU and the several positive initiatives taken by Turkey in 2011, both the Commission and Council expressed their overall disappointment with the lack of any significant progress in the accession talks and pledged to initiate a “positive agenda” with Turkey for 2012 that would include support for domestic reforms, foreign policy cooperation, new visa policies, and migration issues.

Throughout 2011, significant developments took place in Turkey, including a national election in June that returned the governing AK Party to power, a shake-up of the Turkish military, the beginning of the writing of a new constitution, and several foreign policy developments involving Syria, Iran, Cyprus, and Israel. With respect to accession however, no additional chapters of the EU’s rules and regulations known as the acquis communautaire were opened in 2011, leaving some to conclude that Turkey’s accession negotiations with the EU had reached a complete political and technical stalemate with little hope of being revised in the near term. This status seems to have prompted the Commission’s “new agenda” that could be seen by some as being comprehensive enough to replace the actual accession negotiations if those talks continued to remain stalled after July 2012.

Overall, the EU believes implementation of critical domestic reforms in Turkey, especially in the areas of press freedoms and the judiciary, has been too slow. Turkey’s continued refusal to extend diplomatic recognition to Cyprus and to open Turkey’s sea and air ports to Cypriot shipping and commerce until a political settlement has been achieved on Cyprus continues to be a major roadblock to progress. Skepticism on the part of many Europeans whether Turkey should be embraced as a member of the European family and a perceived ambivalence toward the EU by a growing number of Turks seems to have increased. The accession talks could take a further step back if Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan follows through on his threat to freeze certain relations, including accession negotiations, with the EU when Cyprus assumes the 6-month rotating presidency of the EU Council on July 1, 2012.

This report provides a brief overview of the EU’s accession process and Turkey’s path to EU membership. The U.S. Congress has had a long-standing interest in Turkey as a NATO ally; an energy transit hub; and a partner in regional foreign policy issues. Although some Members have expressed support for Turkey’s membership in the EU, and have given Turkey high marks for its positions on the democratic transitions in North Africa, Iran, and Syria, the level of congressional support seems to have diminished somewhat as Congress realizes the complexity of EU membership and what is required of Turkey to join the EU. As well, there are congressional concerns with several of Turkey’s recent foreign policy developments particularly with respect to Israel and Cyprus.


Date of Report: March 15, 2012
Number of Pages: 23
Order Number: RS22517
Price: $29.95

Follow us on TWITTER at http://www.twitter.com/alertsPHP or #CRSreports

Document available via e-mail as a pdf file or in paper form.
To order, e-mail Penny Hill Press or call us at 301-253-0881. Provide a Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover card number, expiration date, and name on the card. Indicate whether you want e-mail or postal delivery. Phone orders are preferred and receive priority processing.