Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

The congratulatory message is as follows:

“As the Presidents of TOBB, TESK, TÜRK-İŞ, TZOB, TİSK, MEMUR-SEN, TÜRKİYE KAMU-SEN and HAK-İŞ which together form the Turkey – EU Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) Turkish Branch, we congratulate Mr. Ömer Çelik on his appointment as EU Minister and Chief Negotiator of the 65^th Term Turkish Government.

Mr. Çelik’s appointment as EU Minister is a reiteration of Turkey’s excitement in regards to the EU accession process. We, the Turkish Branch of the Turkey – EU Joint Consultative Committee, expect that this will result in tangible gains in Turkey – EU relations. We are ready to provide all the support necessary.

Turkey’s EU accession process continues to be the primary anchor of Turkey’s financial and political transformation. We are pleased to observe that a significant momentum has been achieved recently in this regard. Faster progress in the accession process is pleasing to us as Turkey’s professional organizations, syndicate confederations and civil society organizations.

In this regard, it is of the utmost importance that the efforts aimed towards the lifting of visas be completed as soon as possible.  Success in this field will mean significant ground gained in Turkey’s EU membership process.

Starting negotiations in regards to expanding the Customs Union’s scope as well as eliminating obstacles to its effective function should be considered on a technical basis; adapting the customs union to current conditions and the expansion of its scope is mutually beneficial for Turkey and the EU.

In the future, we hope that the negotiations on chapters regarding energy, education, culture, justice and basic rights, freedoms and security as well as employment and social policy are initiated without further ado.

We are following the negotiations taking place in Cyprus closely. The finalization of negotiations there will contribute greatly to Turkey’s membership process.

Therefore, a process which will contribute greatly to Turkey’s transformation is ahead of us. We will always stand by the Minister throughout this process; our desire to work together and to provide support will continue to persist as it has until now.”

Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) was formed on 16 November 1995 in accordance with the Article 25 of the Ankara Agreement. The Comity aims to promote dialogue and cooperation between the economic and social interest groups in the European Community and Turkey and to facilitate the institutionalization of the partners of that dialogue in Turkey.

Joint Consultative Comity has a mixed, cooperative and a two-winged structure comprised of an equal number of representatives in the three categories of employers, workers and interest groups split between EU and Turkey wings. It has 36 members in total, composed of 18 Turkish and 18 EU representatives and it has two elected co-chairmen, one from the Turkish side and the other from the EU side. It holds two regular meetings annually and issues a statement following each.