The European Union and Turkey agree to closer cooperation

European Council President Charles Michel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on Monday to seek closer cooperation after the Turkish leader demanded a resumption of his country’s accession talks with the European Union.
The two officials met in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, on the eve of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, shortly after Erdogan announced that Turkey would not agree to Sweden’s accession to the alliance without reviving Ankara’s aspirations to join the European Union.
Michel praised, in a tweet on Twitter, “the good meeting,” adding that they “discussed future opportunities to bring cooperation between the European Union and Turkey to the forefront and revitalize our relations.”
Turkey has had official candidate status for joining the European Union since 2005, and it had aspired to membership for a long time before that, but talks have stalled for years.
Separately, NATO member Turkey has blocked Sweden’s bid to join the military alliance, accusing Stockholm of harboring wanted activists.
But on the eve of the NATO summit, which begins on Tuesday, Erdogan linked the two files, calling on the European Union countries, which are also members of NATO, to pave the way for Turkey’s membership in the bloc.
“First, open the way for Turkey’s membership in the European Union, then we open it for Sweden, just as we opened the way for Finland,” Erdogan said, in televised remarks before heading to Lithuania.
Once in Vilnius, the Turkish president broke off talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for an unscheduled meeting with Charles Michel, before meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersen.