1 Introduction
1. The Trade and Industry Committee, our predecessor,[1]
issued a Report on trade with Turkey seven years ago. That Report
looked at prospects for EU membership some four years before accession
talks opened in October 2005, and at the work of British
Trade International, now succeeded by a new trade and investment
promotion organisation, UK Trade & Investment (UKTI).
After almost three years of accession negotiations, it seemed
timely to look at Turkey again. This view was strengthened by
the evidence for our inquiry into the economic impact of accession
of the ten Central and Eastern European countries in 2004 and
2007, which stressed "the importance of being well informed
and investing early in rapidly developing economies".[2]
Accordingly, we undertook an inquiry into economic relations with
Turkey, and the implications of Turkish accession to the EU.
2. We received written evidence from a range
of organisations, and took oral evidence from the Minister for
Trade Promotion and Investment, Lord Jones of Birmingham, and
UK Government officials from the Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform (BERR), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(FCO), and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), which is jointly sponsored
by those two departments. The Committee also heard oral evidence
from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the British
side of the Turkish-British Business Council (TBBC).
3. The Committee visited Turkey in March 2008
as part of the inquiry, holding meetings with business groups
and government officials in Istanbul, the country's business and
financial centre, and Ankara, its political centre. The visit
made a significant contribution to our understanding of the issues,
and to our understanding of the way in which Turks viewed the
accession process. We are extremely grateful to the many people
we met for their frankness in discussion. We also visited the
European Commission in Brussels in February 2008, meeting officials
from the Directorates General for EU Enlargement and Trade. A
list of people we visited in Turkey is in an annex to this Report.
The Committee also contacted a number of UK companies operating
in Turkey for their views. We are grateful to all those who gave
evidence or otherwise contributed to this inquiry.
4. This report was largely prepared before the
Irish vote on the Lisbon Treaty. We note that the conclusions
of the European Council held on 19-20 June make no reference to
any effect of that vote on EU enlargement.[3]
However, it has been reported that the President of France, Mr
Sarkozy, Ms Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, and Jean-Claude
Juncker, Luxembourg's Prime Minister, have said that there will
be no enlargement unless there is institutional reform.[4]
We believe that the EU should consider the relationship between
institutional reform and enlargement in a considered way, rather
than immediately assuming that the accession of the three candidate
countries (Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey) is no longer possible.
1 See Trade and Industry Committee, Ninth Report of
Session 2000-01, Industrial and Trade Relations with Turkey,
HC 360, and Government response thereto, published in First Special
Report of Session 2001-02, Government Observations On The Fourth,
Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth And Twelfth Reports From The Committee
(HC 197) Back
2
Trade and Industry Committee, Eleventh Report of Session 2006-07,
Europe moves East: The impact of the 'New' EU Member States
on UK business, HC 592, para 80; Back
3
Presidency Conclusions, European Council 19/20 June 2008, 20
June 2008; http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/101346.pdf) Back
4
"Czech refusal on treaty hits unity hopes", Financial
Times, 20 June Back
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