EC/Turkey agreement: additional Protocol to the Agreement establishing an Association following the 2004 enlargement of the Union

PURPOSE: to conclude an Additional Protocol to the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Economic Community and Turkey following the enlargement of the European Union.

PROPOSED ACT : Council Decision (conclusion of an Agreement)

CONTENT : ten new Member States acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004. Under Article 6(2) of the Act of Accession 2003, the new Member States have undertaken to accede to, amongst others, the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Economic Community and Turkey. This Article provides for a simplified procedure, namely the conclusion of a protocol by the Council, acting unanimously on behalf of the Member States, and the third country concerned. This procedure is without prejudice to the Community’s own competences and does not affect the allocation of powers between the Community and the Member States.

The aim of this proposal is to conclude this Additional Protocol on the basis of negotiation directives adopted by the Council on 9 March 2004.

Article 1 (1) of the Additional Protocol takes account of incomplete past ratification procedures with regard to previous accessions of six Member States. Even though these earlier procedures were not completed, there has nevertheless been a de facto and de jure association between these states and Turkey.

The Additional Protocol provides for the necessary technical adaptations of the Association Agreement that ensue from the accession of the new contracting parties. The Additional Protocol includes a number of adjustments brought about by the institutional and legal developments within the EC, as well as by the accession of the new Member States to this mixed agreement and an increase in the number of official languages.

The text of the Protocol negotiated with Turkey is annexed to the proposal (see Council document 9616/2005)