(Cihan) - European Union (EU) Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said he expected the stalled negotiations with Turkey to resume in January 2007.
There weren't any political criteria, according to Rehn, for opening of the "business and industrial policy" chapter and the technical studies were completed, he said in a statement to BBC.
"We could make an advance on such an important negotiation issue", said Rehn and went on to explain that the decision on Turkey was a well measured one and that Turkey had a price to pay for not fulfilling its commitments, reports Trend.
The EU, said Rehn, wanted the process to be kept alive and negotiations to continue.
Finnish commissioner expressed his hopes that the EU-Turkey talks would continue in the new year under the term presidency of Germany.
'Thus, we would show that the talks are still on track and that it is possible to make advance in the fields ready for improvement' said Rehn.
On Dec. 15, EU leaders endorsed the suspension of eight chapters of Turkey's accession talks with the bloc as agreed by foreign ministers earlier last week as a punishment for the country's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU member Cyprus. The leaders, however, stated that the doors would still be open for Turkey as well as other hopeful countries.