Türkiye says it wants to kickstart shelved talks to join EU

Türkiye wants to kick-start talks about joining the European Union, as the government seeks to attract more investment following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s revamp of his economic team after re-election in May.

“All we need is to allow us to continue on a journey that is so relevant in terms of wholesale transformation,” Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said at a summit in Austria on July 27. “We look up to EU as source of inspiration for change. That is the best alternative out there,” Bloomberg reports.

Türkiye is courting foreign investors and countries to help boost its ailing economy and end an cost-of-living crisis partly caused by surging inflation. Many investors have blamed years of unorthodox fiscal and monetary policies under Erdogan — including keeping interest rates well below the rate of price rises — for Türkiye’s woes.

Ties with the EU have also been strained by Erdogan’s perceived clampdown on political opponents.

"Difficult Decade"

Türkiye has had “a difficult decade” because “internal or regional issues, traumas, challenges got in the way,” Simsek said. “We got maybe off track.”

He stressed that the country is committed to economic and political reforms, and the key is how that progresses. “Much of debate is on the end game, whether Türkiye should become an EU member or not. In my view, that’s irrelevant,” he said.

The EU and Türkiye started accession negotiations in 2005. Though the process stalled, Türkiye has remained a key economic and defence partner for the bloc. The two sides have also had to work on immigration, with Türkiye being a key route for people trying to reach Europe.

This month, in a sign of improving ties, Erdogan agreed to allow Sweden to join NATO, though Türkiye’s parliament still has to ratify the decision.

Simsek said the first steps with the EU could include allowing some Turkish agricultural goods and services to be part of the bloc’s customs union.