The European Commission adopted a “White Book” on Food Safety.

14 January 2000

Turkey’s participation to the “Socrates Programme” and to the “Youth for Europe Programme” was confirmed with the publication of the decisions of the European Parliament and Council (68/2000/EC and 69/2000/EC) in the Official Journal.

The EU General Affairs Council  evaluated the information presented by the European Commission regarding the preparation of a pre-accession strategy for Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Minister İsmail Cem and the Commissioner in charge of Enlargement Günter Verheugen assessed Turkey’s pre-accession strategy. They  agreed on Turkey’s participation in Community Programmes, in technical committees and in agencies conducting activities within the European Union as well as in the definition of the financial framework.

The Intergovernmental Conference began discussions about the institutional reforms.

The accession negotiations were launched with Malta, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia and Latvia.

The 9^th meeting of the EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee was held in Brussels. (17-18 February)

The 9^th meeting of Turkey-EU Customs Union Joint Committee took place.

The European Commission published a “White Book” on reforms.

23 March 2000

The Lisbon European Council adopted the Lisbon Strategy aiming at making the European Union the most competitive knowledge based economy in the world and achieving full employment by 2010. (23-24 March)

The EU General Affairs Council adopted a regulation on strengthening the Customs Union between Turkey and the European Union.

The 39^th meeting of EU-Turkey Association Council took place. They decided to establish  8 sub-committee attached to Turkey/EU Joint Committee and to start the negotiations for the liberalization of  free movement of services and public procurements.

3 May 2000

The European Commission suggested Greece to join the Euro zone on the 1^st January 2001.

19 May 2000

The European Commission published a report regarding the economic development and structural reforms of the candidate countries in 2000.

5 June 2000

After three years,  the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission organized their 45^th meeting where they  agreed on a common report. (5-6 June)

19 June 2000

The Feira European Council discussed issues such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Common Security and Defense and policies related to enlargement, employment and  information society. The Council confirmed that Greece would join the Euro zone on the 1^st January 2001. (19-20 June)

A new convention replacing the Lomé Convention was signed between EU and ACP countries.

The European Commission published a report presenting its 2001-2005 targets of its social policy.

The 10^th meeting of the EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee was held in Brussels.

Turkey signed the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The participation of Denmark in the Euro zone was rejected by a referendum.

The European Commission published its 2000 Turkey Progress Report.

The second round of negotiations regarding the liberalization of public procurement and the free circulation of services between Turkey and the European Union was held in Brussels. (17-18 October)

The 4^th European - Mediterranean Conference was held in Marseille. (15-16 November)

The 46^th meeting of Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission took place. (21-22 November)

By bringing some changes to the regulation related to MEDA Programme, the MEDA II Programme covering the years 2000-2006 was accepted.

The EU General Affairs Council approved Turkey’s Accession Partnership Document. The Council also encouraged the strengthening of the Customs Union between Turkey and the European Union. It was also agreed that the European Investment Bank provide a credit amounting to 450 million euro for this purpose

The Nice European Council accepted the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The terms of the draft of the Nice Treaty were also settled. (7-9 December)

The 10^th meeting of Turkey-EU Customs Union Joint Committee took place.

The Council approved the regulation granting a financial aid amounting to 135 million euro for Turkey’s participation to the first three years of the MEDA Programme.