Turkey: membership application, 12 April 1987

On the proposal of the Chairman of the Committee for External Relations, Mr. Elmar BROK (EPP, D) and of Mr. Patrick COX (President of the ELDR group), the conference of the presidents of the political groups in the European Parliament decided to have annual debates on enlargement as of the first plenary session of October 2000. This decision was adopted against the view of the Socialist Group, which opposed the setting of a specific calendar laying down from the present the work allocation of the various parliament committees. The decision of the Conference of presidents grants an exclusive competence to the External Relations Committee to take responsibility for the preparation of the 13 reports that will be discussed in October 2000: one report for each of the 12 candidate countries and a general report that cover all the horizontal questions. This composite report will be prepared on the basis of contributions from the other parliamentary committees on: - convergence and stability in the candidate countries; - the rule of law in the candidate countries and their adaptation to the single market; - employment and social aspects; - the environmental aspects of enlargement; - health and consumer protection; - agricultural aspects; - regional policy; - transport and tourism policy; - equal opportunities and enlargement. The other annual debates would also involve 12 reports drawn up on the basis of the regular reports of the European Commission on the progress of the candidate countries towards enlargement. As the next set of regular reports will be published by the Commission in November 2000, the second annual debate may take place before the end of the first semester of 2001.�