ATHENS

Turkey’s Minister for European Union Affairs was pessimistic about the opening of new chapters in the country's accession process into the EU bloc in the run up to EU Parliament elections.

“We see that our hopes about opening of chapters will not be met,” Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Athens, where he took part in a EU foreign ministers meeting. “The EU is not very enthusiastic about this ahead of European Parliament elections. Each country has its own views about how such a decision will affect the elections.”

"Our hopes are delayed until Italy's EU presidency," he added.

After discussing Turkish-Greek relations and the Cyprus issue with Greek officials, he noted that Greece's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos once again confirmed their support for Turkey's EU accession process.

Referring to the recent sanctions against Russia after its annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, Cavusoglu stressed that the opening of a chapter on energy with Turkey had become even more important with the search for independence from Russian energy.

Elections to the European Parliament will be held in all EU member states between May 22-25.

Greece, which currently assumes the rotating six-month EU presidency, will be succeeded by Italy in June.

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