Turkey’s Application to Join SEPA: The Essence of the Event, Mechanism, and the EU’s Position – Part 1

The main outcome of the meeting was Turkey’s official announcement that it had sent a letter of intent to the European Payments Council (EPC) expressing interest in joining the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). Minister Şimşek called this one of the two key breakthroughs of the dialogue—the second being the decision to allow EU companies to participate in Turkish public tenders.

In a joint statement, the parties agreed that Turkey’s potential participation in SEPA would enable faster, safer, and more cost-effective cross-border payments, contributing to the growth of trade and investment between Turkey and the EU.

SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) is a banking space that has unified international euro transfers so that they are processed as simply, quickly, and cheaply as domestic transfers within one country. Conceived in 2002 with the introduction of the euro and launched in 2008, the system has effectively replaced SWIFT for everyday euro transfers within the zone.

As of January 2026, SEPA includes 41 countries: all 27 EU member states, as well as Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and several other European countries. In March 2025, North Macedonia and Moldova joined SEPA; in May 2025, Serbia joined.

The main principle of the zone is the unification of international euro transfers. For Turkey, this means a radical change from the current situation: today Turkish citizens and companies pay fees ranging from €15 to €200 for each euro transfer abroad. Upon joining SEPA, these operations would become free or nearly free. It would also allow for automatic payment orders between participating countries.

It is important to emphasize: SEPA is not the eurozone. Joining SEPA does not require adopting the euro as a national currency. It is a payment infrastructure that simplifies euro transactions without changing a country’s monetary sovereignty.

How realistic is accession: technical and political aspects

Technically, there are almost no obstacles. The European Payments Council (EPC) is an international non-profit organization coordinating the European banking sector in the field of electronic payments. The decision to include a new country is largely made at the industry level, although the political context may influence timing.

In addition, Turkey will need to align its national legislation with European standards. As noted by Payments Journal, to join SEPA Turkey must comply with EU payment services regulations, including the Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which will require strengthening anti-money laundering (AML) measures and improving data protection standards. This is technically feasible but a non-trivial task requiring time.

Politically, accession is likely, but with reservations. In their joint statement, the EU and Turkey emphasized that “in times of growing geopolitical fragmentation, significant risks to economic prospects, and challenges to multilateralism, reliable and mutually beneficial partnerships are more important than ever.” Turkey was described as a “candidate country and key partner of the EU.”

At the same time, the document explicitly states that EU–Turkey relations “must continue to be based on values such as respect for the rule of law, fundamental human rights, democracy, and freedom of the media.” This is a traditional EU signal: economic rapprochement is possible, but political criteria remain in force.

Conclusion: technically, Turkey’s accession to SEPA is a matter of time rather than principle. Politically, the process is likely but neither rapid nor unconditional. However, the key signal has already been given: the EU itself suggested in March 2026 that Turkey consider this path, and the July dialogue confirmed mutual interest. As noted by the BBC, SEPA is “not a relaunch of Turkey’s EU accession talks,” but an important step in economic integration.

Author: Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor at the Department of World Economy and World Finance, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation Daria Yuryevna Rozhkova.