Priorities to enhance EU-Türkiye relations

The EU de-risking strategy should involve closer economic integration with countries in our neighbourhood, including Türkiye. Our industrial supply chains are already deeply intertwined but the regulatory framework is sometimes outdated and not responding to today’s challenges posed by the green and digital transformations. The EU Customs Union with Türkiye is obsolete as it does not cover services, procurement or agriculture, and it does not consider the digital and green transformations. The absence of an effective dispute settlement means that problems have been piling up and our trade and investment flows are becoming much more difficult. The revision of the Customs Union agreement is therefore urgent. These were topics discussed in meetings with Türkiye’s Deputy Trade Minister Mustafa Tuzcu and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mehmet Kemal Bozay, together with our members TÜSIAD and TISK.