EU accession talks with Turkey may resume in June

EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said on Tuesday (April 19th) that accession talks with Turkey may restart in June after a year-long hiatus. His statement followed a meeting of the EU-Turkey Association Council in Brussels. “If Turkey takes the few remaining steps in time, the competition chapter can hopefully still be opened,” Fuele said, adding that giving new momentum to the negotiations is in everyone’s interest. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said “nobody can blame Turkey” for the deadlock and called for “strategic political will by all member countries of the EU”. Turkey has opened talks on 13 of 35 negotiating chapters, but has only closed one.