Memur-Sen President Yalçın attended the 41st meeting of the EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee

The President of the Memur-Sen Confederation, Ali Yalçın, attended the 41st meeting of the EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee held in Brussels, the capital of Belgium.

The meeting revolved around a wide range of key subjects, including energy resources, sustainable and digital transformation, regional and global stability, migration issues, civil society, and the relationship between Turkey and the European Union. During the discussion, it was emphasized that a span of 64 years has passed since Turkey first applied for membership in the European Economic Community (EEC). Despite Turkey's persistent efforts, this application process has not culminated in success, resulting in significant setbacks for the labor movement due to the unrealized prospect of Turkey's EU membership. The importance of fully operating the social dialogue mechanism was emphasized in the meeting, and it was stated that the fact that the Turkey-EU Joint Consultative Committee has not met for the past 2 years is a significant deficiency.

The same concerns were brought up within the framework of the visa liberalization process. It was asserted that Turkey had met 65 out of the 72 criteria and had exerted its utmost efforts to expedite the process. However, disagreements in six specific areas have prevented the process from reaching completion.

During the meeting, the topic of the rapid increase of Islamophobia in Europe was a subject of discussion. The meeting stressed the urgency of Europe addressing issues such as Islamophobia, racism, discrimination, and hate speech promptly. It was pointed out that the widespread existence of these problems should be a matter of concern for Europe, and the use of double standards could lead to adverse consequences for European nations in the future.

The meeting highlighted the idea of improving social dialogue mechanisms and achieving consensus in addressing issues.