Turkey urges EU to treat it as equal partner in new industrial scheme

At the Türkiye-EU Business Summit in Brussels, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat called on the European Union to add Turkey as an equal partner in its proposed Industrial Accelerator Act, advocating a “Made with Europe” approach that would keep production links under the customs union. He said both Ankara and Brussels share concerns about large imports from outside the bloc, but the answer should not be to cut off reliable partners.

Bolat cited the $233 billion of bilateral trade last year, of which $62 billion involved automotive goods, and pointed to recent reductions in unresolved customs-union disputes. Co-chairing a separate dialogue with EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, he announced the removal of a barrier linked to Turkey’s TAREKS system and agreed to advance mutual recognition of authorized economic operators and electronic-signature cooperation. The two sides also pledged to keep working on market-access issues such as textiles and alcoholic beverages, while noting that visa procedures have improved but still pose challenges for Turkish professionals and students.