Euractiv, Belgium
July 14 2005
Rehn: Turkey is already a ‘privileged partner’ of the EU
In Short:
Against the growing spectre of an oft-mentioned but little explained
“privileged partnership” scenario, Turkey is about to meet the last
key condition set by the EU for opening membership talks.
Background:
On its way towards the EU, Turkey has already brought into force six
outstanding pieces of legislation, which was one of the two
conditions Ankara has had to meet in order for accession talks to
start on 3 October 2005. The other key condition is for Turkey to
sign a protocol that would extend the Ankara Agreement to the EU-10
states, including Cyprus. According to Enlargement Commissioner Olli
Rehn, he has received “reassurances that Turkey will sign the
protocol in the coming days, or at most weeks”, but clearly before
October.
However, Turkey’s eventual readiness would not necessarily signal the
start of talks on full EU membership. There is increasing talk within
the EU of a “privileged partnership” scenario – an idea that was
launched by German conservative opposition leader Angela Merkel in
February 2004.
Issues:
As Turkey is about to meet all the conditions required by the EU to
open membership talks at the scheduled date of 3 October 2005, the
option of a “privileged partnership” appears to be coming to the fore
in European political discussions.
The advocates of this option, however, have yet to come out with a
straightforward definition of what exactly such a partnership would
entail. By and large, it is generally understood to refer to a
‘light’ type of membership, which is certainly more than a customs
union but which at the same time does not allow for any state in that
category to act as a fully-fledged EU member. Such a tie would be
strong enough to fall in line with the EU’s ambitions for
co-operation but it would not amount to joining the EU.
Edmund Stoiber, who leads Germany’s Christian Social Union (CSU – the
CDU’s sister party) has said that `Europe’s basic freedoms should
also be extended to [Turkey]: free movement of goods, greater freedom
for the movement of individuals, freedom of provision of services,
free movement of capital. And Turkey should also be fully integrated
into the common foreign and security policy”. At the same time,
Stoiber has also said that he would do “everything within his legal
power” to keep Turkey out of the Union.
Germany is preparing to hold elections in September, which may bring
the CDU-CSU coalition to power. While the EU keeps insisting that
German domestic political developments will have no effect on the
fate of Turkey’s EU bid, all eyes will certainly be on Berlin during
the days between the German elections and 3 October.
Meanwhile, another candidate, Croatia, has been kept in the EU’s
waiting room since March 2005. Zagreb’s EU bid has several
supporters, especially among its immediate neighbours. The EU member
states’ leaders will have to reach unanimous decisions on Turkey’s
bid, and some countries (including Austria and Hungary) may want to
make their support for Ankara’s bid conditional on a green light to
Croatia. For now, however, the cards of these countries remain close
to their chest.
Positions:
Ankara insists on nothing less than “full membership” of the EU,
declared Turkey’s chief EU negotiator and Treasury Minister Ali
Babacan at a meeting with MEPs in Brussels on 12 July. “I emphasise
‘full membership’ as no document signed between Turkey and the EU nor
any other EU decision envisages any other option,” said Babacan. He
said that Ankara can cope with a “rigorous” negotiating framework,
but “would take issue if there were new hurdles”. Babacan also
reminded the MEPs that while the Turkish public is committed to
carrying through the reforms conducive to full EU membership, this
support can be fragile. “People [in Turkey] may be offended” if they
hear comments from the EU that are not phrased carefully.
Reacting to Ali Babacan’s first appearance before the European
Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, German MEP Renate Sommer
(CDU) said that he “consequently avoided talking about the most
obvious shortcomings of Turkey regarding the accession criteria such
as the recognition of Cyprus, the Armenian genocide, the status of
the Kurds and the adoption of the so-called law on foundations.
Moreover, he was rather hesitant and evasive in answering the
enquiries of the parliamentarians who were present”. She said that
`without a radical change in mentality, a full recognition of Cyprus
according to international law, an open discussion of the Armenian
question, an end to the war against the Kurds in the South-East of
the country, equal rights for women and unrestricted religious
freedom including the right to own property, we will continue to
refuse Turkish accession to the EU.’
According to Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, 3 October will
witness the opening of accession talks with Turkey and the
negotiations will aim for full membership. He told a recent meeting
in Berlin that he did not understand what the opponents to Ankara’s
bid meant by “privileged partnership”. Emerging from a meeting with
German conservative opposition leader Angela Merkel, who herself is
an advocate of the “privileged partnership” scenario, Rehn said that
“whatever more that [privileged partnership] could mean I’m willing
to listen, but I have not yet heard very convincing answers”.
In Rehn’s opinion, Turkey is already a “privileged partner” of the
EU. “There is a customs union for trade and economy. The political
dialogue is deepening. Turkey is part of the EU’s crisis management
operations in the Balkans. In other words, some would say this
already represents a privileged partnership”.
Arguing that “Europe cannot enlarge indefinitely”, French Interior
Minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy has on several
occasions called on the EU to offer a “privileged partnership” option
to Ankara.
In a recent interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Romanian
President Traian Basescu argued in favour of offering Turkey
“privileged partnership”. Romania, itself a candidate scheduled to
join the EU in January 2007, believes that this would be the best way
to reconcile the differences among the parties concerned.
Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has reiterated his
country’s view that the ‘privileged partnership’ scenario cannot and
should not be supported. “We’ve made commitments to Turkey, we’ve
made commitments to Croatia, my view is that we have to follow those
commitments through,” he said.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer believes that “after more
than four decades of promises, it is very shortsighted to slam the
door in Turkey’s face. It would be a very high price that we would
have to pay if that happened”.
Latest & next steps:
Turkey is expected to sign a protocol extending the Ankara Agreement
“very soon”, clearly before October
At an Intergovernmental Conference in early October, the 25 member
states are expected to unanimously approve the EU’s negotiating
framework with Turkey, which was made public on 29 June
On 3 October, accession talks are scheduled to be opened
At a date as yet unspecified, Austria and France plan to hold
referenda on Turkey’s EU accession
The negotiation process with Ankara is “open-ended” by definition and
will not be concluded before 2014