Turkey: real commitments and a hypothesis. M-A Moratinos, Spain's foreign minister, and Stefan. Füle, EU Enlargement Commissioner, are obviously right to say that they want Turkey to join the EU and that most Europeans and MEPs even agree with them. They are right to call for a “zero doubt” attitude (see issue 10171), but they are also aware that the 3 October 2005 “Negotiating Framework” for Turkey's accession, approved by the Council of the EU, states that the “shared objective of the negotiations is accession” but adds: “These negotiations are an open-ended process, the outcome of which cannot be guaranteed beforehand”. “If Turkey is not in a position to assume in full all the obligations of membership, it must be ensured that Turkey is fully anchored in the European structures through the strongest possible bond.” These obviations include the Copenhagen criteria, “including the absorption capacity of the Union”. Füle should realise that a different relationship from accession would not mean a weakening of the ties in any way between the EU and Turkey and should not impact on further development of the relationship.
One could be forgiven for wondering whether the Turkish government itself is not aware that joining the EU is not a realistic option and that they keep talking about it because they feel it's the EU's job to come up with suitable alternatives. Such a calculation would be proper and justified. The EU should consider concessions in various dossiers, including Cyprus (if Turkey joined the EU, however, it would have no alternative - one member state cannot militarily occupy part of another member state), and also on trade (Turkey is not happy with the current set-up). Turkey would remain fully autonomous in its relations with its neighbours (see my column in yesterday's newsletter) and could solve the renewed concerns over the Kurdish question as it sees fit.
Belgium's will be an interesting presidency. Issue 2538 in our EUROPE/Documents series (published with Issue 10171 of the newsletter) clearly sets out the plan of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme explained that his country wanted to support and facilitate the proper functioning of the new EU structures brought in by the Lisbon Treaty so as to ensure that Catherine Ashton and Herman Van Rompuy can fully take ownership of their new jobs. Belgian European Affairs Minister Olivier Chastel pointed out that Belgium believes the Lisbon Treaty is a clear break with the past in terms of how the EU's foreign affairs are organised. The new EU diplomatic corps should start work on 1 December 2010, and kickstart common EU foreign policy. Some of Chastel's comments to Agence EUROPE desire extra attention:
1. Yawning gap between European reality and public opinion. Olivier Chastel explained that “The European Union looks like the political authority that is the furthest removed from fellow citizens although it's also the most important. The European Union fashions 75% of all national legislation and the European Parliament is probably the world's most democratic supranational institution”. The EP's codecision powers mean that the Council has to work with it, and without EP support it is not possible for ministers to put their ideas into practice. The Belgian Presidency will bear this in mind.
2. EU accession talks. Will new EU accession negotiating chapters be opened with Turkey? Chastel said that during the 18 month period of the Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian Presidencies, three or four chapters that it should be possible to open have been identified. What about chapters to be closed? “I don't know of any. They have only closed one chapter so far and nothing is expected in that connection.” Accession talks are advancing rapidly with Croatia and “if Croatia speedily implements the measure to meet the closing benchmarks for the various chapters, then we are prepared to help them progress as fast as possible.” “We can start as soon as tomorrow morning” with Macedonia if it reaches agreement with Greece on what the country should be called.
3. European solidarity. “Belgium is planning to get involved in reflection ahead of introducing the 'solidarity clause' to enable the European Union and member states to act 'jointly and in a spirit of solidarity' if any member state falls victim to a terrorist attack or human or natural disaster.” This is not the only area where Belgium's ambitions are necessarily modest because some targets will take longer than six months to achieve - like an EU asylum system that Chastel feels will take until 2012 to prepare. In one area, however, I feel that Belgium does not go far enough: it could open preliminary talks about the new EU Financial Perspective (five-year budget) before the Commission publishes a document after the summer break.
4. “Moderation” under the Belgian Presidency. Belgium says its presidency will be “moderate” in terms of objectives (some of which are quite ambitious) and with little pomp and ceremony. Chastel says “it makes no sense to spend vast sums, like other countries before us, on the lavish hospitality surrounding a presidency.”
Much of the Belgian Presidency's ideas could inspire future EU presidencies because attention must always focus on progress in the actual content of the European project. (F.R. trans fl)