Brussels, 10/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Negotiations over Turkey's accession to the EU, launched in 2005, are a process that will take time and the results cannot be forecast in advance, declared the EP foreign affairs committee (AFET) in a draft resolution adopted on 10 February. MEPs are therefore sticking to the EU's official position set out in the “framework of negotiations” adopted at the time talks with Ankara began in 2005 and which also mention the “open-ended process, the outcome of which cannot be guaranteed beforehand”.
The ultimate aim of the negotiations, which are only moving forward very slowly (only one of the 35 chapters has so far been closed), is the subject of lengthy discussions at the AFET, particularly between the EPP and S&D Groups. According to our sources at the EP, a few minutes before the vote in the committee, the EPP Group effectively agreed to withdraw an amendment calling on the EU institutions “to examine the possibility” of setting up “a privileged partnership” with Turkey as an alternative to accession. In exchange, the S&D withdrew several amendments explicitly mentioning the common objective of negotiations being full and complete accession. Nonetheless, the EU's 2005 “framework of negotiations” also explains that “the shared objective of negotiations is accession”.
Following the vote, Elmar Brok (EPP) welcomed the fact that the AFET had explicitly underlined in its resolution that the EU's absorption capacity remains a criterion that must be fulfilled before Turkey can join the EU. Socialist MEPs Richard Howitt and Raimon Obiols declared after the vote: “We are calling on the EU to send Turkey a clear message, namely, that as a candidate country with its responsibilities and obligations, Turkey will ultimately be judged on its own merits”.
At the same time, the MEPs insist that Turkey must continue reforms, fulfil the Copenhagen accession criteria and respect its commitments with regard to other member states, including Cyprus, especially with regard to application of the Ankara protocol on the extension of the EU-Turkey customs union with new member states. The resolution urges the government to continue and increase reforms in all areas that are still posing problems: freedom of the press and freedom of expression, human rights, the situation affecting women, and protection of minorities etc. In order to facilitate talks on the reunification of Cyprus, Turkey is called on to “immediately withdraw its troops from Cyprus”. (H.B./transl.fl)