27.12.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities L 342/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2500/2001 of 17 December 2001 concerning pre-accession financial assistance for Turkey and amending Regulations (EEC) No 3906/89, (EC) No 1267/1999, (EC) No 1268/1999 and (EC) No 555/2000 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 308 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the Opinion of the European Parliament (%), Whereas: 1) The conditions to be fulfilled by the candidate countries wishing to join the European Union were set out at the Copenhagen European Council of June 1993. The Helsinki European Council of December 1999 stated that Turkey is a candidate country destined to join the Union on the basis of the same criteria applied to the other candidate countries and that, building on the existing European Strategy, Turkey, like other candidate countries, will benefit from a pre-accession strategy to stimulate and support its reforms. The Nice European Council of December 2000 welcomed the progress made in the implementation of the pre-accession strategy for Turkey. As Turkey does not yet fulfil the political criteria of Copenhagen, the Community has called on it to improve and promote its democratic practices and respect for fundamental human rights and more closely to involve civil society in that process. The cornerstone of the pre-accession strategy is the Accession Partnership, drawn up on the basis of previous European Council conclusions while containing priorities on which accession preparation are to concen- trate in the light of the political and economic criteria and the obligations of a Member State. () O] C 240 E, 28.8.2001, p. 115. (¥ Opinion delivered on 25 October 2001 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (6) (12) 3 4 ) ) For Turkey, the legal basis for the establishment of the Accession Partnership and the single framework for coordinating all sources of pre-accession financial assis- tance are provided in Council Regulation (EC) No 390/ 2001 of 26 February 2001 on assistance to Turkey in the framework of the pre-accession strategy, and in particular on the establishment of an Accession Partner- ship (). The principles, priorities, intermediate objectives and conditions for the Accession Partnership with Turkey are contained in Decision 2001/235/EC (%). As is the case for the other candidate countries, assistance for Turkey from the European Union is to be focused on the priori- ties arising from the Accession Partnership. It is appropriate that Community assistance be applied mainly through institution-building and investments to promote compliance with the Community acquis. The Community should undertake specific actions to promote the development of civil society in Turkey. Cross-border cooperation, particularly in the context of the borders between Turkey and the European Union, between Turkey and other candidate countries and between Turkey and other countries in the region, is also to be the subject of specific actions. The Commission should ensure that the pre-accession assistance is coordinated with the Member States' bilat- eral assistance and with funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB), other financial instruments for cross-border cooperation (PHARE, MEDA, TACIS, CARDS, Interreg) and other institutional financial insti- tutions. The Community should co-finance Turkish participation in Community programmes and agencies. , 28.2.2001, p. 1. 0] L 58 0] L 85, 24.3.2001, p. 13.