EU official: Turkey not ready to join the EU

Published February 24th, 2001 - 02:00 GMT
Al Bawaba
Al Bawaba

Turkey, which is currently facing economic turmoil, is not ready to join the European Union, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy told French radio Saturday. 

 

Prospects of political instability in Turkey, sparked by a row last week between the country's top leaders, sent the Istanbul stock exchange plunging, while interest rates sky-rocketed. 

 

Lamy said that under the current conditions, Turkey's accession to the EU would "not be good for Europe, but most importantly, it would not be good for Turkey." 

 

In a bid to contain the crisis, the Turkish government floated the lira and in the process endangered an ambitious economic program backed by a three-year, four billion dollar (€4.35-billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 

 

"One day, and I do not know when, Turkey will join the European Union. It must first simply follow the path that all other candidate countries have taken," said Lamy. 

 

Turkish state minister Tunca Toskay gave the first signal Friday that the government would have to revise its goal of bringing inflation down to 12 percent this year, without revealing any new figures. 

 

Turkey was first declared an EU candidate during the EU's Helsinki summit in December 1999 when the country embraced a massive reform plan supported by the IMF loan. — (AFP, Paris) 

 

© Agence France Presse 2001

© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)

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