EU greenlights two more chapters in Turkey's talks
Güncelleme Tarihi:
EU ambassadors on Thursday gave the green light for Ankara to open two more of the 35 policy chapters that all candidates must navigate to sign up to the European Union, officials said. (UPDATED)
The European Union's Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) approved the opening of the chapters, on "company law" and "intellectual property law".
The chapters will officially be opened next Tuesday in Luxembourg, bringing to eight the number of policy areas Turkey has opened since it began accession talks in 2005.
Eight chapters were officially frozen in December 2006 due to Turkey's refusal to open its ports and airports to Cypriot ships and planes, while five more are directly linked to accession and blocked by France.
If all goes well for Turkey, officials suggest, three more chapters could be opened before the French EU presidency ends on December 31.
EU executives said they expected Turkey to start negotiations on free movement of capital and taxation chapters in the second half of 2008.
Just three weeks before taking over the EU's rotating presidency, officials said, French President Nicolas Sarkozy appears determined to show that while he opposes Turkey's entry he will not block the process at the moment, the AFP reported.
"France wants to show that it can play the game of being a neutral president," the AFP quoted an EU official said, on condition of anonymity.
Paris is "terribly happy that we have been able to find other technical chapters to open to prove its goodwill," said a second EU official.