Turkey's EU minister and chief negotiator Volkan Bozkır said on Thursday that Turkey is in a better position than 22 EU member states in terms of its budget deficit and public debt, the so-called Maastricht criteria.

According to the Maastricht criteria, there are five criteria that European countries must meet to adopt the euro currency. Two of these are national public debt not exceeding 60 percent of gross domestic product and a national budget deficit at or below 3 percent of gross domestic product.

Speaking at the 34th EU-Turkey Joint Consultative Committee meeting in Brussels, Bozkır said that, although only one chapter on Turkey's EU accession process has been opened in the last four years, the country is determined to continue with reforms.

Bozkır said if political obstacles were to be removed, then Turkey would be ready to open 28 out of 34 chapters, close the already opened 14 chapters and complete negotiations on all the chapters within two years.

Out of 35 chapters, 14 chapters have been opened, 17 remain blocked, and four have not been discussed.