EU: Turkey's accession process should continue

By Serife Cetin

BRUSSELS (AA) – Turkey's European Union membership accession process should continue, said the European Commission's chief spokesman Wednesday.

“The collegial decision, the position of the college is that the accession negotiations [of Turkey] should be maintained, ” Margaritis Schinas told a daily press briefing in Brussels.

Referring to a statement this week by Johannes Hahn, the EU commissioner for European neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations, saying the EU should pursue “a new direction ” with Turkey in lieu of membership, Schinas said that the commission’s official position can be “expressed by the President [Jean-Claude] Juncker only. ”

At the EU-Turkey summit meeting this March in Varna, Bulgaria, both Juncker and Donald Tusk, the European Council president, stressed the reform process and good-neighbor relations of Turkey.

“These are vital to keeping open the channels of communication with the EU and Turkey, and being able to stay on the course of this process, ” Schinas said.

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