10th meeting of Turkey-EU Troika was held in Madrid.

110th Turkey-EU Association Committee meeting was held in Brussels.

 

The European Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference Joint Forum on “Civilizations and Harmony” was held in Istanbul. (12-13 February)

 

EU Commissioner for Enlargement Günter Verheugen visited Turkey. (13-15 February)

 

 

The Memorandum of Understanding in relation to the Management of EU financial assistance was signed between the European Commission and the Turkish Government in which structure, functions and responsibilities of the National Fund and Central Finance and Contracts Unit's were determined.

 

 

 

First Harmonization Package (amending Turkish criminal Law and the State Security courts as well as encouraging fight against terrorism) came into force.

 

The 5th Euro-Mediterranean Private Sector Summit was held. The leading private sector organizations of 12 countries of the Mediterranean Sea decided to establish the Union of Mediterranean Confederation of Enterprises (UMCE). (1-2 March 2002)

 

 

The European Investment Bank gave a credit amounting 90 million euro to TPAO, a Turkish Petroleum Corporation, for the project of building a natural gas plant in Silivri.

 

The EU Heads of State gathered at the Barcelona Summit. Turkey, along with other candidate countries, was invited to the session on the 15th of March. The liberalization of energy and financial markets, the improvement of the employment situation, the creation of a flexible labor market, the interconnection of transport networks European-wide and the problem of Middle East were the main topics discussed at this Spring Summit. (15-16 March)

 

 

The Joint Meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture of the EU member countries and EU candidate countries took place.

 

 

The Second Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Trade took place in Toledo, Spain.

 

 

Second Convention meeting regarding the “Future of the EU” was held. (21-22 March)

 

 

 

Second Harmonization Package came came into force, bringing important legal changes particularly regarding the associations, political parties and the press.

 

The EU-Turkey Association Council held its 41st meeting in Luxembourg.

 

 

The 5th Foreign Ministers meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Process was held in Valencia.(22-23 April)

 

 

The European Council expanded the list of terrorist organizations and terrorists by adding PKK and the DHKP-C to the list.

 

 

The third Convention meeting regarding the “Future of the EU” took place. (23-24 May)

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Seville European Council Summit, the European Council welcomed the reforms adopted by Turkey and agreed that new decisions could be taken at the Copenhagen EU Council Summit regarding the next stage of Turkey’s EU candidacy. (21-22 June)

 

 

 

 

The Framework Agreement which was signed between Turkey and the European Union to determine the general principles and conditions for Turkey to participate in community programs entered into force with its publication in the Official Journal.

 

 

The Turkish Undersecretary of Treasury signed a loan agreement amounting to 40 million euro with the European Investment Bank for financing "Municipal Water and Sewerage Infrastructure Program”.

 

 

The Youth Convention was held in Brussels in parallel to the Convention on the future of the European Union. (9-12 July)

 

 

The 13th meeting of EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee was held in Erzurum. (11-12 July)

 

 

The Treaty of the European Coal and Steel Community ended after 50 years since entering into force.

 

 

The third Harmonization Package came into force. The package consists of 14 items among which the abolition of death penalty in the exception of war and imminent threat of war as well as the possibility of publishing, broadcasting and learning the different languages and dialects which Turkish citizens use traditionally in their daily lives.

 

 

 

The Pre-Accession Economic Program covering the 2002-2005 period prepared by Turkey was submitted to the EU.

 

 

Turkey joined the multinational headquarters of the Eurocorps with national staff.

 

“The Council of Ministers Resolution about the principles of the implementation of the Customs Union” was published in the Official Journal.

 

 

The Pre-Agreement related to "Pan-European Corridor" which connected Italy, Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Greece was signed.

 

 

The European Commission’s Turkey Representative, Ambassador Hansjörg Kretschmer, officially took office by presenting its letter of credence to the President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

 

 

The 29th meeting of EU-Turkey Customs Cooperation Committee was held in Ankara.

 

 

The EU Commission published its 2002 Turkey Progress Report.

 

 

The meeting in which Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership Facilities of the European Investment Bank were introduced to the EU Member States and the 12 Mediterranean countries was held in Barcelona.

 

 

For the second time, a referendum was held in Ireland. As a result of the referendum, Ireland ratified the Nice Treaty which brought changes to the European Union’s institutional structure and the decision making process.

 

 

 

The European Council Summit took place in Brussels. At the summit, it was concluded that Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia fulfilled the political criteria and it was expected that they would meet the economical criteria as well in the beginning of the year 2004. It was decided that their accession negotiations were going to be concluded at the Copenhagen Summit that was going to be held on 12-13 December and that they would sign the Accession Treaty in Athens in April 2003. At this Summit, the European Union also declared that accession’s negotiations would begin soon with Turkey as well. (24-25 October)

 

 

The draft of European Constitution was presented by President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing at the plenary session of European Convention.

 

 

A conference was held in Brussels for the launch of European Union’s 6th Framework Programme for research and development activities. It has given the opportunity to present the priorities of the Programme and to explain the rules of the participation. (11-13 November)

 

 

The European Parliament report (i.e Enlargement Report) entitled “Recommendation Concerning the Progress of Candidate Countries on the Road of Membership” was accepted at the EP General Assembly about the enlargement.    

 

 

 

The membership of the Turkish Accreditation Agency “TÜRKAK” was accepted at the General Assembly of the European Accreditation Cooperation (EA) that took place in Copenhagen. (27-28 November)

 

 

The 14th meeting of EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee took place. (28-29 November)

 

 

The 13th meeting of Turkey-EU Customs Union Joint Committee was hold in Brussels.

 

 

At the Copenhagen European Council, it was decided that 10 candidate countries would become members of the Union as from the 1st of May, 2004. As for Turkey’s candidacy, in consideration of the 2004 progress report and the opinions of the Commission, negotiations would start without delay if Turkey fulfilled the Copenhagen political criteria by the Summit in December 2004. At the Summit, the documents related to the budget and finance, the conclusions of the 12th December 2002 Council Meeting and the decisions related to the Middle East and Iraq were accepted as the additional texts. (12-13 December)

 

 

The European Parliament published its recommendation in relation with the Copenhagen Summit.

 

The European Commission approved the second payment for Turkey amounting to 75 million Euro within the Structural Cohesion Assistance.

 

The European Union's budget for 2003 was approved by the European Parliament.

 

 

The European Commission approved the pre-accession aid programme foreseen for Turkey. The European Commission decided to give financial support to 18 different projects conducted by Turkey and an amount of 126 million Euro for the preparation for its accession to the European Union.