"EU hopeful Turkey eyes big bill for environment
24 Dec 2004 14:38:17 GMT
Source: Reuters
ANKARA, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Turkey may need to spend up to 60 billion euros ($80 billion) cleaning up its environment to meet European Union standards, officials said on Friday.
EU leaders have agreed to open entry talks with Turkey on Oct. 3, 2005, but the large, relatively poor, country is not expected to join for about a decade, partly because of the scale of its economic problems.
'The most optimistic but not very realistic projections speak of a need for investment of 20 billion euros. But this figure could rise to 60 billion euros,' a Turkish official told a news briefing, on condition of anonymity."
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