EU’s Barroso asks Turkey to go extra mile on Cyprus
BRUSSELS, Dec 16 (Reuters) – European Commission President Jose
Manuel Barroso urged Turkey on Thursday to “go the extra mile” to
convince sceptical Europeans it is ready to open EU membership talks,
including by recognising Cyprus.
He said he expected EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday and
Friday to give the green light for starting such talks but stressed
that Ankara had work to do.
“The challenge for Turkey is to win the hearts and minds of those
European citizens who are open to, but not yet fully convinced of,
Turkey’s European destiny,” Barroso told a news conference hours
before the start of a decisive EU summit.
“I believe Turkey must sooner rather than later break new ground. It
must go the extra mile,” he said.
“Cyprus will be sitting at the negotiating table when EU membership
talks begin for Turkey. So the question for Turkey is: what kind
of message does it send when you do not recognise all the members
sitting at the table of the club you want to join?”
Ankara has so far refused to recognise Cyprus directly or indirectly,
arguing it is an issue for the United Nations.
Asked whether the EU would press for Turkey to recognise a genocide
of Armenians early in the last century, Barroso said there were no
plans to add new hurdles to Ankara’s bid to open EU entry talks.
“We can’t introduce new political conditions. it wouldn’t be fair to
do that… That was not one of them, so neither today nor tomorrow
are we going to come up with new political provisos,” he said.
But he stressed that the topic was not taboo but rather one that
would be dealt with in the future: “The issue raised and possibly
many others must be the subject of open and frank dialogue.”
Barroso said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi planned to raise
his concerns about some of the Commission’s suggestions for how to
change the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact on budget discipline but
that no decisions were expected.
12/16/04 07:29 ET
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress