Turkey To Re-Negotiate Customs Union With EU

Turkey will bring up the customs union deal for re-negotiation with the European Union by June, Turkey's Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said.

“By June, we’re going to re-open for negotiation the Customs Union Agreement, to which no sovereign independent state should agree,” Zeybekci said at a meeting with Turkish businesspeople, quoted by Hurryiet Daily News. 

He said he already had three meetings with the EU economy and commerce ministers and will have a fourth. 

Critics of the agreement from 1996, say it restricts Turkey’s export competitiveness. This is because the bloc is able to enter into free-trade agreements with other nations that are binding for Ankara, without the Turks having a say.