BRUSSELS
Turkey's bid for EU membership could move forward "very soon", EU enlargement commissioner, Johannes Hahn, said Monday.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Turkey’s chief EU negotiator, Volkan Bozkir, in Brussels on Monday, Hahn said: "I think it might be possible to open Chapter 17 very soon." Each "chapter", or policy areas, addresses specific issues in the accession process. "Chapter 17" is on economic and monetary policy.
"We have concluded our internal work and we will submit at the latest in early June our report to the council and [I] hope we will get approval soon so we can start and open this chapter," Hahn told the news conference.
Out of 35 policy areas, 14 have been opened and 17 remain blocked, including the ones on economic and monetary policy and on education and culture.
"I would like to stress Turkey does and will do her part in [the] accession process. However, the pace of negotiations is not promising, because some countries have raised obstacles," Turkey's chief EU negotiator, Bozkir, told the news conference.
"We expect this chapter [Chapter 17] to be opened as soon as possible," Bozkir said. "We are ready to intensify dialogue for deepening Turkey [and EU] relations."
The Cyprus issue remains a major political obstacle to Turkey's accession to the 28-nation bloc.
Parts of Turkey's EU accession procedure -- which comprises introducing reforms in economic, political, judicial and other areas, including policy areas on judiciary and fundamental rights and justice, freedom and security, are still politically blocked by the Greek Cypriot administration despite the EU Commission and the European Parliament having called for them to be opened.
Negotiations between Turkish and Greek Cypriots resumed following a two-year hiatus in February 2013 after the previous round of talks collapsed partly because of the Euro-zone debt crisis.
Peace talks were unilaterally suspended by the Greek Cypriot administration last October after Turkey issued an advisory on behalf of the TRNC for seismic research off the coast of Cyprus.
Turkish Cypriot President Mustafa Akinci and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades met with the U.N. Special Adviser for Cyprus Espen Barth Eide at the UN's office on the island on Friday to resume the peace negotiations that were halted last year.
