The Negotiations on Turkey's Accession to the EU: The Negotiating Framework

The framework for carrying out negotiations on the accession of Turkey to the EU are defined in a document, the Negotiating Framework, agreed upon by the EU and Turkey on 3 October 2005. This article analyses the general lines of this document, which brings together the principles, substance and procedures of the accession negotiations, taking as its point of departure the widely accepted idea that this framework is more rigorous than those established for other countries that have previously travelled the road to accession to the EU.