DUBLIN
Turkey's European Union Minister and Chief Negotiator for accession talks Egemen Bagis said he hoped to make a headway in country's membership talks now that Ireland has assumed the rotating helm of the Union.
"With the beginning of the term presidency of Ireland, which we know closely and trust, what we expect from the EU is to see again an era where policy chapters are opened and are closed," Egemen Bagis told The Anadolu Agency.
Ireland assumed on January 1 the presidency of the European Union Council for six months from the Greek Cypriot administration.
Turkey boycotted the Greek Cypriot helm, and all contact with EU presidency has been frozen for the past half year.
Bagis said Turkey and the EU might open two new chapters on "regional policy and coordination of structural instruments," and "economic and monetary policy."
In its accession talks, Turkey has so far provisionally completed one of the 35 EU policy chapters, which all EU candidate countries are required to conclude for membership. Seventeen chapters are blocked either by Cyprus or France.
