EU-Turkey Relations in 2013: Increasing the Momentum and Facing Regional Challenges
September 25, 2013
Central European University, Budapest
Nador street 13, Room No. 1

The past couple of years witnessed a cooling-off in EU-Turkey relations going hand to hand with an increase in Turkey’s sceptical attitude towards the EU and the Union’s economic and institutional crises declining the attraction of EU membership. The blocked chapters by Cyprus and France limit the progress that can be made in the negotiation process. Despite this dark picture, in May 2013 Turkey and the EU Commission announced “positive agenda” to revisit the relations and make a positive step forward. Turkey hopes to see at least one chapter officially opened in fall 2013. Besides the bilateral accession process, the astounding level of change in the Middle East in the last two years, chaos and conflict in Egypt and the civil war in Syria pose additional difficult questions for both Turkey and the EU.
In light of these, the panel aims to discuss the ways of reviving EU-Turkey dialogue, and cooperation opportunities vis-à-vis the regional challenges.