PARLIAMENT REPORT PUTS EU-TURKEY RELATIONS TO THE TEST
EurActiv, Belgium
Sept 28 2006
In Short:
The Parliament has voted on a report that puts Turkey under pressure
to reform further. Nevertheless, a controversial clause on Armenian
genocide recognition was dropped.
RELATED
Turkey accession and Cyprus
Background:
Accession negotiations with Turkey were officially opened in October
2005. In this process, the European Parliament’s opinion on Turkey’s
progress on preparing for membership is of considerable importance.
Even though the Parliament has so far not used its veto, it must give
its agreement to any new Union member.
Issues:
The report was supported by a majority of 429 to 71 against with 125
abstentions. A controversial clause, making recognition of the Armenian
genocide a "precondition" to Turkey’s EU accession, was amended.
Rapporteur Camiel Eurlings of the Christian Democrats (EPP-ED) said
the report was "tough but fair". The report points out the main
stumbling blocks in the way of Turkey’s accession to the EU. These
are mainly reforms in the area of freedom of religion and freedom of
expression, especially the notorious article 301, which has served
as a basis for so-called "Turkishness"-cases against writers and
journalists. Another concern is the opening of Turkish ports and
airports to vessels from Cyprus.
Positions:
The Finnish presidency noted that there has been much achieved,
but insisted that more "tangible results were needed". Minister for
European Affairs Paula Lehtomaki said that Turkey needs to give new
impetus to the pace of the political reform and vigorously pursue
the reform process. Full and effective implementation of the reforms
is of utmost importance for Turkey to ensure the irreversibility and
sustainability of the changes.
Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn also regretted the "lack of progress
in reforms". He underlined that negotiations were "an open process"
with no automatic guarantees. "The integration of Turkey would be
of mutual benefit," he said, adding "the EU needs a prosperous and
stable Turkey".
Rapporteur Camiel Eurlings (EPP-ED) said its basic conclusion was
that the EP regretted the "slowdown in reforms" in Turkey, although
he did compliment the Turkish government on its 9th reform package.
Christian Democrat MEP Elmar Brok (EPP-ED) stressed the issues of
human rights, minority rights, freedom of religion and of expression.
These, he said, were "preconditions" for EU membership. So far it
had not even implemented the Ankara Protocol. He also emphasised that
the financial aspects of the negotiations must be dealt with and that
the EU had "no financial leeway" under the Financial Perspective.
Liberal Andrew Duff (ALDE) stressed that EP’s role was "to promote
parliamentary democracy in Turkey". This meant encouraging Turkey’s
modernisation not putting up "spurious blocks" to the process. If there
were a "train crash" in Cyprus, there would be two trains involved:
one carrying "Turkey’s efforts to create a viable reform of European
Islam, where the prophet meets the Enlightenment", the other carrying
Europe’s efforts to develop a strong common foreign and defence policy,
to which Turkey could make "an extraordinary contribution".
Joost Lagendijk (Greens) said there was a big problem with the
paragraphs in which, following amendments instigated by lobby groups,
recognition of the Armenian genocide by Turkey was described as a
precondition for Turkey to join. He said the parliament must "support
people in Turkey who are fighting for the same things as us".
The Turkish ARI Movement warned that this development could weaken
Turkish enthusiasm and ambitions in the reform process.
Latest & next steps:
The Commission’s progress report on Turkey has been postponed and is
due on 8 November 2006.