Turkey’s EU Accession Process: The Road Ahead

Turkey’s Euro-Atlantic integration process dates back to seven decades. Turkey became a NATO member in 1952, while the other leg of its integration, its accession to the European Union has long been waiting for progress. Turkey was declared a candidate country in December 1999, while negotiation talks were opened in October 2005, but only a limited progress has been made since then. Out of the 35 negotiation chapters in total, only 16 chapters have been opened, and one of these has been–provisionally–closed. During the past decade, accession talks have stalled and disagreements have emerged in multiple fields, which further questions the continuation of Turkey’s accession process that is still a key foreign policy priority for Turkey.

At the same time, it should be underlined that Turkey and the European Union are interconnected by a number of strategic issues, such as migration, security, energy security, counter-terrorism, economy, and trade, which necessitate close cooperation and coordination. In line with the aforementioned, the online conference seeks to shed light on the current state of Turkey-EU relations, analyse the problematic issues on the accession agenda, and identify the ways in which accession talks could be revitalised.

Welcoming Remarks
Zsolt CSEPREGI, Deputy Director, Antall József Knowledge Centre

Opening Speech
HE Ahmet Akif OKTAY, Ambassador, Turkish Embassy in Budapest

Panel I—The Dynamics of EU Enlargement and Turkey's Accession Process: A Historical Perspective
Zafer MEŞE, Coordinator, Berlin, SETA–Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Zoltán EGERESI, PhD, Research Fellow, Institute for Strategic and Defense Studies, National University of Public Service
Moderator: Tamás KOZMA, Head of Department, Asian and African Relations Department, Antall József Knowledge Centre

Panel II—Current Challenges & Future Prospects of Turkey-EU Relations
Enes BAYRAKLI, PhD, Director of European Studies, SETA–Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Máté SZALAI, PhD, Programme Manager, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade
Moderator: Zoltán EGERESI, PhD, Research Fellow, Institute for Strategic and Defense Studies, National University of Public Service