Brussels, 13/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, 12 February 2013, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius “confirmed” to his Turkish opposite number, Ahmet Davutoglu, “that we are favourable (...) to opening talks on chapter 22” on regional policy and the coordination of the structural instruments. Specifying that “France wishes to breathe new life into relations between the EU and Turkey”, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Philippe Lalliot, stated that Paris “has decided to make its contribution by proposing the opening of discussions on chapter 22, to start with”. He added that France hopes that Ankara “will undertake to make a concrete contribution to this dynamic”.
Following this announcement, the spokesperson for the Irish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers stated that the Presidency would this week - Friday - re-open discussions among the member states (at working group level) on the chapter “and more specifically, on the the European Commission's screening report (from 2007)”. “We hope that we can make good progress in these talks during teh course of our Presidency”, the Irish spokesperson stressed. But the process is a long one. To say nothing of the political will of the member states and Turkey, from a procedural point of view, once the member states have studied the screening report and adopted benchmarks for the opening of the chapter, Turkey will have to put together an action plan. The Commission must then prepare a report to confirm that the opening benchmarks have been achieved and this report must be approved by the member states. The Commission will then have to do prepare a draft common position on the opening of this chapter, which again must be approved by the member states. If they give it their blessing, Chapter 22 can be opened.
Turkey and EU welcome French decision
For its part, Ankara feels that a “major obstacle” has been lifted in EU-Turkey relations. “We have received a strong message that France will lift its block (on this chapter)”, said the Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, adding that he believes that the vetoes on the four other chapters blocked by Paris will be “progressively removed”. “The French authorities have officially announced a change of course towards Turkish accession to the EU”, he added. Turkish Minister for European Affairs Egemen Bagis stressed that Turkey has had “good news. The new French government has decided not to continue with the same obstacles as the previous government”. Whereas the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was not in favour of Turkish accession, his successor, François Hollande, wants the country to be judged on political and economic criteria. Bagis voiced his hopes that the chapter, the first since 30 June 2010, would be opened under the Irish Presidency, or under the Spanish Presidency.
A Cypriot source told EUROPE that his country has taken note of France's decision and that it is waiting to see the position of the Commission and of the other member states. “Then we will make an appropriate decision” (on what Cyprus intends to do about the opening of the chapter), the source explained, pending the start of discussions on Friday.
In a tweet, Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle welcomed the French decision. “France's signal of readiness for the EU to restart discussions on regional policy with Turkey adds to the momentum to make 2013 a turning point in our relations”, he commented. The spokesperson of the German government has welcomed this step forward, even though the German Chancellor is not in favour of Ankara's accession. He said that “we think it would make sense to look at other chapters too, but it's a complex process”.
The Greens/EFA French MEP and co-chair of the joint parliamentary EU-Turkey committee, Helène Flautre, welcomed the decision as “an excellent start”. “After more than two years of stalemate in Turkish-European negotiations, I am delighted to note that France has once again been able to assume its responsibilities and respect European values. In this act of openness and justice, France has given a European shot in the arm to relations with Turkey and complied with the objectives laid down by the new Irish Presidency (to open at least one chapter)”, she statd in a press release. (CG/transl.fl)