ISTANBUL
European Union will continue to enlarge, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has told the World Economic Forum in Istanbul.
"EU's enlargement will continue because a bigger Europe is a stronger Europe," he said, touching upon Turkey's bid to join the union, ongoing since negotiations began in 2005.
Turkey, which first applied to join the bloc in 1987, must comply with 35 ‘chapters’ setting out reforms needed to become a member. So far, 14 have been opened while 17 remain blocked and a further four are yet to be discussed.
Earlier on Monday, Turkey's EU Minister Volkan Bozkir said the EU would benefit from Turkey’s young population, strong markets and army.
Support for joining the EU has increased over the last year with 53 percent of Turks supporting accession, up from last year's 45 percent, according to the Transatlantic Trends survey.
Barroso, the former prime minister of Portugal, added: "I would like new chapters to be opened as soon as possible, in particular chapters 23 and 24."
These chapters focus on the ‘judiciary and fundamental rights’ and ‘justice, freedom and security.’ Opening discussions on these areas is expected to be the first step in relaunching the long-stalled talks.
Barroso also identified Turkey as the largest recipient of pre-accession assistance, receiving 4.8 billion euros ($6.1 billion) between 2007 and 2013. It will receive a further 4.5 billion euros over in the next six years.
Focusing on the Syrian crisis, Barroso praised Turkey's treatment of refugees of the civil war, having taken in around 1.5 million according to official estimates.
The 160,000 Syrian Kurds who have crossed into Turkey since September 19 are more than the total number of Syrians accepted by EU states since the war began in 2011.
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