A study of the environmental situation in the country has found that "Turkey should make investments worth 30-35 billion euros in order to become a full member of the European Union," Pepe said in an interview with NTV television.

Aligning with EU environmental norms is expected to be one of the toughest and costliest issues for Turkey, along with agricultural reform, in the course of its accession talks with the Union, which opened last month.

Pepe said Ankara was aiming to meet all EU environmental criteria by 2023-24 and was planning to ask Brussels for transitional periods if it became a member of the bloc earlier than that.

The hardest areas for Turkey will be the management of waste waters and industrial gas emmissions, he said.

"We are a country which is dumping 65 percent of its waste into the seas and is letting 65 percent of its waste water into the seas without purification," Pepe said.

The government aims to complete by the end of 2006 a project under which solid waste would be treated in line with EU standards across Turkey, he said.

Ankara hopes that EU grants of between five and six billion euros will cover some 15 percent of the 35-billion-euro bill for environmental projects, Pepe said.

"Regarding the remaining amount, 30-35 percent will be spent by local administrations, another 30-35 percent by the industrial sector and the rest will be up to the central government," he added.

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