It is safe to say that within the last two years, Turkey has taken significant steps towards alignment with the acquis. In addition to economic reforms, new legislation has been adopted in almost all areas. If and when a date is given for accession negotiations, they will be built upon the three rounds of sub-committee meetings. When we look into the previous enlargements and at the current accession negotiations, which have already taken four years, it is reasonable to say that a long process is ahead of us. Yet, this is not as daunting a task as it might have been had Turkey not achieved what it has so far. Consequently, Turkey is confident that it is ready to proceed with the accession negotiations. Please click here to read the text in full