Toespraak Eurocommissaris De Gucht over handelsrelatie EU-Turkije (en)

Mr President,

Ministers,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I was told there are some 13.500 companies in Turkey operating with European backing and capital.

They did not tell me all of them would be present here tonight.

But seriously, it's good to see so many of you attending a conference on a subject that is of key importance in both economic and political terms.

It's more than worthwhile to have this discussion with businessmen and -women as well as people in government on both the Turkish and the European side.

Because they are the people that make the EU-Turkey relationship work .

And it does work: the European Union is by far the largest market for Turkish products (accounting for some 46% of its global trade) and the source of most of its foreign direct investments, nearly 80% of which are European in origin. Likewise, Turkey is already of major importance for Europe's economy (it is our 7 th trading partner) and yet there is plenty of potential still untapped; With growth rates of 9% last year and, hopefully, 7.5% this year, Europe's business people know the way to Turkey.

Perhaps the most telling fact - both of the European interest and of Turkish potential - is that, despite the crisis, Europe has maintained and even increased its share of Turkey's FDI.

This is much more than your average preferential partnership: our economies are deeply and fundamentally intertwined - first through the Customs Union and the accession process that provide the impetus for deep integration, and then through the businesspeople, investors and consumers that make such a union come to life.

We know that EU investors have cast their nets far broader than the traditional trade in goods, so that they now feature in almost every sector of the Turkish economy: from machinery to renewable energy, from insurance services to grocery retail.

That is also increasingly the case the other way around: if the Belgian company Deceuninck now produces PVC window frames in Turkey, the Belgian chocolates they eat during board meetings are made by Turkish companies, since the acquisisition of Godiva by the Yildiz Holding in 2008. And the fact that a group of Turkish companies recently took over the French electric vehicle manufacturer Tilter goes to show that the relationship is not just strengthening and broadening but also becoming more and more balanced.

Clearly, the economic world has been unimpressed by the often adverse political conditions in our partnership.

But this does not mean it has been uninterested : some of the most vocal supporters of invigorating the relationship between us are found in the business community - and rightly so.

They know that, on the whole, economic integration has so far been a success;

They realise that the problematic issues that do occur every once in a while need a pragmatic solution, because the overall benefits of the economic bond far exceed the downsides of adapting to a predictable and transparent trade regime;

We too, as politicans, must not be defensive in this: we need a trade regime that fits our everyday economic reality, one that helps rather than hampers future opportunities. In the context of the EU-Turkey Customs Union, that means we just have to find realistic solutions to the trade irritants that threaten to sour the debate between us.

Both Turkey and the European Union are far from defensive in their general approach to trade policy:

The EU is the most open economy in the world; a staunch supporter of the WTO; convinced of the need for a multilateral agreement in the DDA and convincing in its approach to regional and bilateral free trade deals.

Though it is a difficult message in a period of crisis, we remain convinced that our economic openness is to our advantage; that now, more than ever, we need to tap into sources of growth around the world, while our own means of providing a stimulus to the economy are much more limited than before.

Even more than that, of course, we need to stabilise financial markets and restore trust in the euro. We must not underestimate the turmoil in the eurozone, of course, but I can tell you that the sense of urgency and the political will to do whatever is necessary to put government finances back in order and support the euro are unprecedented. We will go through hard times, but Europe will come out stronger than before.

Turkey, too, is offensive in its approach to trade policy - eagerly engaging with Asian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean economies because it is politically and economically interesting to do so. I see this not as a threat but as an opportunity for EU-partners, as Turkish exports are often fuelled by European imports and stimulated by European investments.

And if Turkey strengthens its economic bond with the new, democratic regimes in the Mediterranean, whose young and eager populations so desperately need some light at the end of their economic tunnel, we can only applaud that.

There is no need for jealousy in economic partnerships.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As this conference and tons of statistics prove: the economic partnership between Turkey and the EU is very sound.

Let us use this occasion to have an open and fruitful debate on how to revitalise and revisit the overall relationship further.

But before that, let us simply start off the event with a pleasant evening.

Thank you very much.