Spain takes over EU presidency as Turkey eyes progress

Spain, a staunch supporter of Turkey’s membership bid, which also co-sponsors the UN Alliance of Civilizations together with Ankara, took over the rotating presidency from Sweden. It will hold the position for the next six months.

Turkey’s accession negotiations, however, are unlikely to make drastic progress during the Spanish presidency, although Turkish leaders say the process needs to speed up to avoid a further decline in public support for membership at home. The entry talks risk coming to a standstill now that a number of negotiating chapters have been frozen. The EU suspended talks on eight chapters in 2006 due to Turkey’s refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from member Greek Cyprus, while France and Greek Cyprus have unilaterally blocked the opening of talks on a total of 10 other chapters.

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