EU’S REHN PRESSES FOR START OF TURKISH ENTRY TALKS (UPDATE1)
Bloomberg
Sept 13 2005
Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) — European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli
Rehn pressed EU governments to start membership talks with Turkey,
saying skeptical nations such as France would have dozens of chances
to veto entry later on.
The scheduled Oct. 3 start of the decade-long entry process is in
doubt because Turkey refuses to recognize EU member Cyprus. Rehn said
every EU government could block the start or conclusion of talks in
35 negotiating areas as well as Turkey’s ultimate membership, adding
up to 71 chances to wield a veto.
“That’s quite a safeguard,” Rehn told the European Parliament’s
foreign-affairs committee today in Brussels. Talks would end “perhaps
in 10 to 15 years.”
Opposition to enlargement was hardening before the dispute over
Turkey’s diplomatic boycott of Cyprus, one of 10 countries that
joined the bloc last year. Skepticism grew three and half months
ago when French and Dutch voters rejected the European constitution,
meant to help the 25-nation EU function better with more members.
The Turkish government caused a diplomatic stir in July when it said
its signature of a protocol extending a European trade accord to
Cyprus didn’t amount to recognition of the Mediterranean island, whose
northern tier Turkey has occupied since 1974. Signing the protocol was
a condition set by the EU last December for starting membership talks.
Diplomacy
EU governments are working on a declaration that would urge Turkey to
ensure free trade with the Greek-speaking Cypriot republic. Diplomats
in Brussels tomorrow will try to break a deadlock over the wording.
“I can’t speculate at this stage about what precise language will
come out of the ongoing discussions,” Rehn said. Still, he expressed
optimism that the talks will go ahead on time.
Cyprus will block the start of negotiations should the counter
declaration be unsatisfactory, Cypriot government spokesman Kypros
Chrysostomides was quoted by CNBC-e television as saying.
“It is regrettable that a candidate country does not recognize one
of the EU member states,” Rehn said. “At the same time, we need to
be consistent. Formal recognition wasn’t a condition for the start
of negotiations.”
Rehn said the dispute could be resolved with United Nations help on
unifying the island while EU entry talks took place. He also said
Turkey would have to recognize all EU members before joining.
Parliament Vote
Elmar Brok, head of the EU parliament’s foreign-affairs committee,
asked Rehn for a written statement that Turkey’s declaration about
not recognizing Cyprus would have no legal impact on the trade accord,
known as the Ankara protocol. The parliament is due to vote Sept. 28
on ratification of the protocol.
“We need clarity,” said Brok, who belongs to the German Christian
Democratic party opposed to Turkey joining the EU. “Otherwise, we can’t
complete the ratification process of the Ankara protocol by Sept. 28.”
Turkey, a nation of 72 million people, is counting on the accession
talks to attract record foreign investment to its $300 billion
economy. It would be one of the two most populous EU nations along
with Germany, become the bloc’s first mainly Muslim member and widen
the EU’s borders to Iraq.
Human Rights
Membership talks with Turkey would be in the EU’s strategic interest
by bolstering reform-minded politicians in the country, Rehn said.
“The EU needs a stable, democratic and increasingly prosperous Turkey,”
he said.
Rehn faced demands by some EU parliament members to press the
Turkish government for more human-rights protection after an Istanbul
prosecutor filed criminal charges against a Turkish novelist named
Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk faces up to three years in jail for criticizing
the lack of debate on the 1915 massacre of Armenians, his publisher
said Aug. 31.
Turkey, which fulfilled another EU condition for starting entry talks
by enacting upgraded human-rights legislation earlier this year,
is making progress in this area, said Rehn.
“There have been certain negative cases,” he said. “The overall trend
is still positive.”