Turkey's European Union membership will play a crucial role in increasing the bloc's political prowess, according to a joint declaration at the end of a meeting on May 9 held to discuss reforms for the country's stalled EU process.
The sixth meeting of the Reform Action Group was chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.
"The time has come for the EU countries to leave aside domestic politics and populism, and to revert to its 69-year-old founding philosophy, and to realize that Turkey's membership in the union would be one of the most meaningful and useful contributions," the declaration read.
Referring to the upcoming European Parliament elections, the declaration said: "We hope that the increasing ideological excesses will not dominate the new European Parliament and that the new formation in the EU institutions will have a more balanced and objective stance," Anadolu Agency reported.
