Overview of the European Union

The European Union is both an inter-state and a supra-national multinational organization consisting of 27 countries, with approximately 450 million citizens. It was established on the basis of political and economic cooperation. The most basic common policy areas are defined as trade, agriculture, transport, fishing, competition and the free movement of goods, people and capital. It is anticipated that subjects such as education, tax and banking will be included in the field of common policy in the near future.

The European Union has taken its present form as a result of a series of agreements signed one after another against the backdrop of the military, economic, intellectual and political developments of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries.

Establishment of the European Union

In the late 1940s, Europe was exhausted by the First and Second World Wars and steps had to be taken to establish lasting peace. The intellectuals of the period adopted the idea that the only way to sustain peace would be to establish an organization that united European countries economically and politically. The French foreign minister of the time, Robert Schuman, prepared a plan to gather European countries around coal and steel, which were the most important industries of the day. Based on the design proposed by Jean Monnet, the former Secretary General of the League of Nations, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the first supranational community in Europe, was established by France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in 1951-1952 within the framework of the Schuman plan.

The six member states went on to form the European Economic Community (EEC), envisaging a  common market for a wide variety of goods and services. The Treaty of Rome, establishing the EEC, was signed on 25 March 1957. Customs duties among the six member countries were completely abolished on 1 July 1968. A number of common policies were adopted, notably for trade and agriculture. In 1984, Italian politician Altiero Spinelli proposed a more federal "European Union" to the European Parliament. The proposal was approved, and in 1986 the community strengthened the common market system with the "Single European Act".

With the Maastricht Treaty signed in 1992, the EEC institutions were strengthened further and granted wider powers. Under this agreement, Europe became more integrated politically, the decision to introduce a common currency was taken and the European Union adopted its current name. The Amsterdam (1997), Nice (2001) and Lisbon (2007) treaties subsequently led to a progressively more integrated union.

How Does the European Union Work?

The Union of 27 member countries operates with a multi-institutional structure in the fields of administration, auditing, representation, legislation and decision making. This structure includes numerous institutions such as the European Court of Justice, the European Central Bank, the European Aviation Authority, the European Police Organization etc. Among these institutions, the Council of the European Union, the EU Commission and the EU Parliament are of special importance.

European Commission 

The European Commission is the designer and coordinator of European Union policies –the executive body of the European Union. It is obliged to implement the budgets and programmes prepared by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers of the European Union. The Commission, which has 27 members, including the Vice-Presidents, is also the guardian of the community treaties. It is the body that initiates the legislative process and, together with the European Court of Justice, ensures the correct application of Union law. It represents the European Union on international platforms and in the negotiation of international agreements, especially in the fields of trade and cooperation. Each Commissioner heads a general directorate responsible for a certain policy area.

Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers) 

The Council of the European Union acts as the legislative and in some areas as the executive body of the European Union. It also has responsibilities in areas such as approving laws, coordinating the general economic and social policies of the member states and approving the EU budget. Member countries are represented in the Council and preside over the Council alternately for six months.

The Council has nine different policy structures: General Affairs and Foreign Affairs; Economic and Financial Affairs; Justice and Home Affairs; Employment, Social Policies, Health and Consumer Rights; Competitiveness; Transport, Telecommunications and Energy; Agriculture and Fisheries; Environment; and Education, Youth, Culture and Sport. A minister from the national government of each country attends the Council meetings. The ministers to take part in each meeting are determined in line with the agenda. Decisions are taken by simple majority, qualified majority or unanimity, depending on the nature. The decisions are published in the official journal of the Union. Regulations, guidelines and recommendations are binding for all countries.

European Parliament 

The European Parliament is the only elected body of the EU. The Parliament represents the people in the EU. The team of the president of the Parliament is made up of seven vice presidents and 20 commissioners. Each of these 27 people come from a different member country. The Parliament examines the draft laws prepared by the Commission and approves, rejects or amends them. The EU budget must be approved by the Parliament, and EU spending is controlled by the Parliament. The Parliament can hold a vote of confidence in the Commission, and the chairman of the Commission and all its commissioners can be dismissed by a two-thirds majority of the members. With the Lisbon Treaty, the Parliament acquired almost the same level of power and importance as the two other main institutions.

Members and Candidate Countries

Member States:  Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

Candidate countries: Albania, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey

Possible Official Candidates: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo

Relations between the European Union and Turkey

First Application and Ankara Agreement

The European Economic Community (EEC) was established in 1958, and Turkey applied for membership on 31 July 1959. The EEC Council of Ministers accepted Turkey’s application and proposed signing a partnership agreement that would be valid until the membership conditions were settled. As a result, Turkey's relations with the organization we now know as the EU were officially launched with the Ankara Agreement, which was signed on 12 September 1963, and entered into force on 1 December 1964. The Ankara Agreement envisaged a three-stage process for the integration of Turkey into the EEC. These stages were the preparatory stage, the transition period and a final period. During the preparatory period, Turkey did not assume any obligations in order to reduce the economic differences between the parties.

Additional Protocol

The Additional Protocol, which was signed on 13 November 1970 and entered into force in 1973, marked the end of the preparation period foreseen in the Ankara Agreement and determined the terms of the transitional period and the obligations to be undertaken by the parties. Within this period, it was envisaged that the free movement of industrial products, agricultural products and persons between the parties would be ensured and the customs union completed. The EEC unilaterally zeroed the customs duties and quantitative restrictions applying to many industrial goods. Turkey was to re-set its customs duties on industrial products originating from the EU, and a total period of 22 years was allowed for the customs union to enter into force.

From the beginning of the 1970s until the second half of the 1980s, Turkey-EU relations followed an unsteady path for political and economic reasons. Relations were formally suspended following the military coup of 12 September 1980. In 1983, Turkey started the process of revitalizing its relations with the EEC in line with its return to civilian rule.

Full Membership Application

On 14 April 1987, Turkey applied for membership of the EEC without waiting to complete the pending obligations set by the Ankara Agreement. The Commission announced that the Community would not be able to accept a new member until it had completed its own internal integration. It also stated that, although Turkey was eligible to join the Community, the country needed to make improvements in the economic, social and political spheres.

Customs Union

The decision to form the Customs Union was accepted in 1995 and was put into effect on 1 January 1996. Accordingly, Turkey abolished customs duties on EU industrial goods. In addition, all customs duties on commercial transactions between the parties were abolished. This was the first time that the EU had established a major, functional customs union with a non-member country. With this agreement, the relations between the parties reached an advanced stage.

Full Member Nomination

Turkey's candidacy for EU membership was officially approved at the Helsinki Summit held on 10-11 December 1999. In this context, it was also decided to prepare an Accession Partnership Document for Turkey. The first Accession Partnership Document prepared for Turkey was approved by the Council of the European Union on 8 March 2001. A programme and timetable for the implementation of the priorities of the Accession Partnership Document were approved by Turkey on 19 March 2001. The Accession Partnership Document was reviewed by the EU in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008. The National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis was updated in 2003, 2005 and 2008.

Membership Negotiations

The Brussels Summit held on 17 December 2004 was seen as another landmark in Turkey-EU relations. The Summit determined that Turkey met the political criteria sufficiently and decided to start full accession negotiations on October 3, 2005. A screening process was completed for all the topics to be negotiated. As of 30 June 2016, 16 of the 33 chapters had been opened and one chapter has been closed. Negotiations were continuing on 15 chapters. In line with a recommendation from the European Commission, the negotiations on eight of these chapters were partially suspended. Chapters 34 and 35 are to be discussed when the membership schedule becomes clear.

Turkey-EU Financial Cooperation

Since its establishment, the European Union (EU) has provided various financial assistance to its member states, candidate countries and third countries on the basis of its founding agreements. A significant amount of resources are transferred to the beneficiary countries in the form of grants or loans in order to achieve the various objectives of the EU. The financial aid extended to candidate members is mainly aimed at preparing them structurally for EU membership.

In this context, the pre-accession aid extended to candidate and potential candidate countries is intended to bring these countries' existing legal and institutional infrastructure closer to EU standards and practices.

Period Before 2007

The European Union implemented various pre-accession assistance programmes in order to prepare candidate and potential candidate countries for membership or to minimize the differences in development between regions.

The various programmes that were implemented before 2007 as predecessors of IPA included the following:

• PHARE¹ (Coordinated Support for the Restructuring of the Economies of Poland and Hungary);
• SAPARD² (Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development);
• ISPA³ (Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession), and
• CARDS (Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stability in the Balkans).

Following the implementation of these programmes, the European Commission decided to change the framework of the financial support to be provided to candidate and potential candidate countries, and to bring in a new instrument for the 2007-2013 period. The experience gained during the implementation of previous pre-accession assistance instruments was taken into consideration while preparing this new financial instrument. As a result, the financial assistance provided through programmes such as PHARE, ISPA and SAPARD, all of which had different implementation mechanisms, was combined under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA).

[2] Council Regulation (EC) 1268/1999 of 21 July 1999 on "Community Support for Agriculture and Rural Development Measures in the Candidate Countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the Pre-Accession Period"

[3] Council Regulation establishing the Pre-Accession Structural Policy Instrument (EC) No 1267/1999 of 21 June 1999

EU Funds in Turkey

Today, the European Union (EU) is operating a series of funds and mechanisms to prepare candidate and potential candidate countries for membership. Turkey is one of the beneficiaries of these forms of support. They can be examined under the following two main headings:

• Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)
• European Union Programmes

Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)

The purpose of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance is to provide EU support to beneficiary countries in implementing the reforms needed for membership of the Union. The countries which currently benefit from this instrument are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.

While the IPA budget was Euro 11.5 billion in the first period covering the years 2007-2013, this figure increased to Euro 11.7 billion in the second period (2014-2020). Turkey's total share in IPA in this second period is about Euro 3.5 billion (excluding cross-border cooperation).

The IPA funds provided to Turkey are being utilized under separate programmes for the nine priority sectors identified under the policy areas given in the "IPA-II Period Indicative Turkey Strategy Document", approved by a decision of the European Commission.

European Union Programmes

EU Programmes support the establishment of partnership awareness by improving cooperation among member countries. They are created in thematic areas and aim to contribute to the creation of common solutions to the existing problems in these areas. Turkey is participating in seven (7) EU programmes in the 2014-2020 period:

1. Erasmus+, the Education, Training, Youth and Sports Programme: Erasmus+ supports cooperation in education and training, including vocational training, mobility activities, periodic partnerships and youth activities. Turkey's National Agency is responsible for the coordination. For detailed information, please visit https://www.ua.gov.tr/.
2. Horizon 2020: The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK) is responsible for the national coordination of the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020) implemented between 2014 and 2020. For detailed information, please visit https://turkeyinh2020.eu/.
3. COSME: This programme aims to increase the competitiveness of businesses, especially small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). The coordinating institution is the Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises Development and Support Administration of Turkey (KOSGEB). For detailed information, please visit https://cosme.kosgeb.gov.tr/.
4. EaSI: Under the Employment and Social Innovation Programme (EaSI), support is provided in the areas of qualified and sustainable employment, the provision of adequate social protection, combating social exclusion and poverty, and improving working conditions.
5. Customs 2020: The main goal of this programme is to increase the functionality of the customs union. In this context, support is provided to member countries for the efficient functioning of the domestic market in the field of customs.
6. Fiscalis 2020: This programme aims to improve the taxation system of the domestic market by strengthening cooperation between countries and ensuring that it operates regularly.
7. European Solidarity Programme (ESC): This is a new European Union initiative aiming to meet social needs while creating opportunities for young people to volunteer, work or engage in networking activities in projects that benefit society in their home country or abroad in order to promote their development.