Speaking in İstanbul at an event to mark the second anniversary of EurActiv Turkey, Leclercq said since EU-Turkey negotiations are proceeding slowly, civil society has a role to play to speed up the process.
“It is civil society that prepares societies for Europe. They even have a more important role than political parties,” he added, praising the efforts of Turkey's EurActiv team headed by Zeynep Göğüş.
Turkey's chief negotiator for accession talks with the European Union, Egemen Bağış, joined the anniversary event on Tuesday evening for the EurActiv European Awards ceremony. The awards recipients included Professor Ayhan Kaya from Istanbul Bilgi University with his “Understanding and Conveying Europe" project.
The jury, made up of Özdem Sanberk, Betül Mardin, Volkan Vural, Eyüp Can Sağlık, Cem Aydın, Leclercq, Gögüş, Kerem Çalışkan and Gökşen Çalışkan, also recognized producer and director Zeynep Devrim Gürsel's “Coffee Features” documentary.
The projects that have won awards will compete with 10 EurActiv partners' selections in Brussels. The results of the competition will be announced on Nov. 12 in Brussels at the European Parliament.
