Institutional Framework

Within the EU Enlargement Strategy, EU-Türkiye cooperation aims to strengthen institutional capacity through public administration reform, economic competitiveness, energy efficiency, and social equality.

The European Commission’s Enlargement Strategy underlined that:

Strengthening Cooperation

Türkiye is a key partner for the EU and a candidate country. Dialogue and cooperation, including at highest level, in essential areas of joint interest have continued.

Building Capacity for Sustainability

Civil society dialogue is essential for strengthening cooperation and mutual understanding between the EU and Türkiye. This includes promoting participation of civil society organisations, fostering people-to-people contacts, enhancing transparency and accountability, and ensuring that dialogue between citizens, businesses and institutions contributes to a more inclusive integration process.

The objectives of this action are consistent with the strategies articulated above and the action will contribute to achieve these objectives by its wide range of activities such as EU-Türkiye High Level Business Dialogue meetings, SME workshops on EU-Türkiye bilateral trade relations and modernisation of Customs Union, acquis audit etc.

The project falls under the Thematic Priority 7: Civil Society under the Window 1: rule of law, fundamental rights and democracy” of the IPA III Programming of the 2021-2027 period.

Civil Society is identified as a thematic priority in the IPA III Programming Framework. In the same document, civil society is defined as an actor of change and its contribution to the alignment with and implementation of the EU acquis are underlined.

The project covers the above-mentioned priorities. However, due to the role and activities of chambers both in the EU and in Türkiye as well as the activities proposed to be implemented, the project also covers the following intersectional priorities stressed in the Commission Decision for the IPA III programming framework: