German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has made a commitment to the Turkish authorities to facilitate the entry of their fruit and vegetables to the European Union. In exchange, Turkey will become a filter for refugees to access the EU.
On her visit to Ankara, on Sunday October 18, Merkel told the Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, and Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that she would facilitate and accelerate the integration process of Turkey to the EU, as well as giving them some 3,000 million Euro in financial compensation, in exchange for Turkey taking over the more than two million refugees currently on their land that are waiting to make the leap to EU countries, mainly to Germany.
In particular, Merkel has pledged to advance several chapters of the process of integrating Turkey into the EU this year, including Chapter 17 on the economy, which would grant Turkish fruit and vegetable products easier access to the markets of the EU Member States; despite the fact that the authorities in Ankara have not respected the agreements with Greece and Bulgaria regarding the refugees.
Turkish exports to the EU
In 2014, Turkish sales of fruit and vegetables to the EU amounted to 1,021.03 million kilos, 763.06 of which corresponded to fruits, including citrus, and 257.97 to vegetables, according to the statistical service Euroestacom (Icex-Eurostat).
In the said period Turkey exported to the EU 240.95 million kilos of citrus, 214.63 million kilos of grapes, 51.5 million kilos of tomatoes, 50.08 million kilos of peppers, 42.47 million kilos of figs, 20.77 million kilos of watermelons, and 4. 4 million kilos of melon, among other products.
Source: hortoinfo.es