European Commission: Strategy Paper and Report 2003
In order to help accelerate the implementation of Turkey's
pre-accession strategy, increased financial assistance will be provided from
2004. This increase is intended to enable Turkey to strengthen its public
administration, support the adoption of the acquis, and to facilitate
Turkey's integration into the European economy.
Pre-accession assistance will focus on helping Turkey meet the Copenhagen
criteria, and in particular on strengthening public administration at all
levels, institution building, and investment related to the adoption of the
acquis. Assistance will also be available for improving the functioning of
Turkey's economy and its capacity to cope with competitive pressure
within the internal market. Cross-border cooperation with existing EU Member
States and other candidate countries will also be promoted. Priorities for
assistance will be drawn from the Accession Partnership and the Regular
Reports.
In order to facilitate the full devolution of implementation, Turkey will
need to take further measures to ensure sound financial control.
Capacity building for Turkey's public administration will be matched
by resources for investment in regulatory infrastructure, acquis-related
investment and economic and social cohesion. Turkey will be asked to prepare
a National Development Plan to guide the commitment of resources to
addressing economic and social cohesion issues.
The Commission will put forward early next year a revised Accession
Partnership for Turkey based on priorities emerging form this year's
Regular Reports. In this context, the Commission will propose to the
budgetary authority that grant assistance to Turkey should be allocated under
heading 7 of the financial perspectives 2000-2006 and should be steadily
increased in the period from 2004 to 2006. The size of annual allocations
will be linked to performance in meeting the Copenhagen criteria and in the
effective management of pre-accession assistance. It can be expected that
total assistance could at least double by 2006, taking into account
Turkey's needs and absorptive capacity
© European Commission; Last modified: 2003-04-09
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