di-ve News, Malta
Dec 17 2004

Turkey’s EU membership prospects being weighed – Malta says yes
but…

by Ronald Mizzi, di-ve news (ronmiz@di-ve.com)

PM Gonzi attends EU summit

BRUSSELS/MALTA, (di-ve news)–December 16, 2004 — 2100CET–PM
Lawrence Gonzi is attending a European Council summit in Brussels
that above all will discuss whether negotiations with Turkey over EU
membership should start or not. Prior to the summit Gonzi declared
Malta’s favouring position of starting negotiations with Turkey for
EU accession, saying that Turkey is a country with Mediterranean
regional interests. He however stated that Malta would be calling for
certain conditions that strengthen religious tolerance and human
rights in the country together with strict regulations regarding the
movement of people. And despite that MEPs have already adopted a
resolution saying that Turkey has made impressive progress in
respecting the political criteria, enough for negotiations on EU
membership to start, opinions remain divided.

The European Parliament has in fact acknowledged that problems
continue to exist, such as regarding minority rights, religious
freedoms, trade union rights, women’s rights, the role of the army,
Cyprus and the relations with Armenia. Therefore it stressed that, in
the first phase of negotiations, priority should be given to the full
application of the political criteria. In case of serious breaches of
the political criteria, negotiations must be suspended.

MEPs also underlined that starting negotiations will not
automatically result in Turkey’s accession and that appropriate ways
will have to be found “to ensure that Turkey remains fully anchored
in European structures”, should negotiations not be successfully
concluded.

MEPs were satisfied that Turkey had fulfilled a number of
recommendations and requirements included in earlier EP resolutions,
such as the abolition of the death penalty, the extension of
important fundamental rights and freedoms, reduction of the role of
the National Security Council and the lifting of the state of
emergency in the south-east. But they said that Turkey still had to
adopt further reforms and put these, as well as current reforms, into
practice. Thus it would have to lift all remaining restrictions on
broadcasting and education in minority languages; put an end to the
discrimination of religious minorities; completely eradicate torture;
draft a new constitution; lower the threshold of ten percent in
parliamentary elections; disband the village guard system in the
south-east; apply ILO standards for trade union rights; limit the
role of the army further; continue the process of reconciliation with
Armenia and recognise the Republic of Cyprus. MEPs also mentioned the
eradication of violence against women, freedom of expression and
press freedom as issues they would monitor closely.

The Parliament also referred to earlier conclusions of EU government
leaders that “the Union’s capacity to absorb new members, while
maintaining the momentum of European integration, constitutes an
important criterion for accession, from the point of view both of the
Union and of candidates for accession”. And it noted that Turkey
could only become a member after the EU’s long-term budget planning
for the period from 2014 onwards has been decided upon.

While France favours Turkey’s EU accession, Germany and Austria fear
that its potential as the second-largest EU member state means that
it can block decisions. On the other hand, Commission President Jose
Manuel Durao Barroso supports the starting of negotiations with
Turkey but urged the Muslim country to start recognising Cyprus.

The summit, the last under the Dutch Presidency, will also discuss
when it would be appropriate to start negotiations with Croatia and
the level of negotiations reached with both Bulgaria and Romania.