Riga, 21/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - At the request of rapporteur Kati Piri (S&D, Netherlands), the European Parliament decided on Thursday 21 May to postpone until June the plenary session vote on the resolution on the 2014 progress report on Turkey.
Piri called for the vote on her report to be delayed since there had only been one week between the vote in the foreign affairs committee and the plenary session and numerous amendments had been put down. “With a report as important as the one on Turkey, I believe it is important to obtain a big majority”, she said, adding that a delay would allow more time to be given. She was supported by Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (ALDE, Germany) who argued that this additional delay would allow agreement to be reached on the final compromises.
William (the Earl of) Dartmouth (EFDD, UK) unsuccessfully opposed the postponement. “Turkey is a matter of the highest importance. We have a responsibility towards our electors”, he said, calling on the Parliament to press on and not dodge the issue of Turkey (our translation throughout). (Camille-Cerise Gessant)