Turkey and the EU: Energy, Transport and Competition Policies

This book is the product of a research project on Turkey-EU relations launched at the time when Turkey's accession talks were coming to a standstill. The purpose of this project, carried out by a team of faculty members from Central European University (Budapest) and Sabanci University (Istanbul), was to change the hackneyed research agenda of EU-Turkey relations and move the debate away from repeated iterations of perceptions of Turkey's identity, its Europeanness, and its ability to adapt to EU norms. Instead, the project focused on strategic aspects of Euro-Turkish relations with a view to assessing how Turkey's regional policy and its role in the neighbourhood might be reconciled with those of the EU even when its membership prospects remained bleak. Specifically, these studies aimed to (i) examine the extent to which Turkey's policies have the potential to converge with those of the EU's neighbourhood policies; (ii) provide a better understanding of how Turkey's regional priorities might serve to strengthen or detract from its EU membership goals; and (iii) reassess Turkey's potential to complement and reinforce EU policies and practices in its neighbourhood. To these ends, the project produced 15 papers focusing on four specific policy areas and means of regional cooperation. Six of the papers are featured here in this volume. Turkey and the EU: Energy, Transport and Competition Policies focuses on three specific policy areas: energy, transport, and competition. By examining these three policy areas, this book aims to enhance understanding of both Turkey's and the EU's positions, help identify the extent to which their differences may be reconcilable in these three policy areas, and provide by means of concrete examples fresh ideas and alternative approaches for formulating complementary and coherent neighbourhood policies.