Brussels, 16/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - European heads of state will have to strike the right balance on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 March between Turkey's request on 7 March for a relaunch of its accession talks with the EU, and Cyprus' strong position that it will not accept the opening of accession chapters unless Ankara meets its obligations (see EUROPE 11512).
This is a difficult issue, admitted a European diplomat on Wednesday 16 March. The only way to move forward was to try to find a solution that is acceptable to Cyprus and Turkey, he added. It will not be an easy task. Ankara wants to see the opening of five negotiating chapters - on energy (15), fundamental rights and the judicial system (23), security, freedom and justice (24), education (26) and foreign policy (31). The Commission hopes to finalise all the preparatory documents in the spring in order to then submit them to the Council, without prejudice to the positions of the member states or the negotiating framework, but all the documents are being blocked by Nicosia. A European source explained that nobody is thinking of forcing Cyprus to agree to the opening of chapters. The criteria for opening a chapter include unanimous voting by the member states.
A European source said that if the Turks continued to insist on the opening of the five chapters on Friday, then there would be a problem. Turkey does not seem prepared to give up the idea of opening chapters. “When a step has been taken towards a solution, when agreement has been reached on a package, the whole structure should not be allowed to be ruined just because of the ... caprice of one EU member country”, said Turkey's European affairs minister, Volkan Bozkir, on Turkish television station NTV.
The period in which the talks with Turkey are taking place is not the most favourable. Greek Cypriot and Turkish leaders are currently negotiating a reunification of the island and some Europeans, including the Cypriot president, Nicos Anastasiades, fear that a gesture to Ankara might derail the process. A European source explained that the talks were promising and the interruption of difficult talks by the issue of opening chapters could jeopardise the talks reaching a conclusion. We can make breathing new life into EU-Turkey relations, including relaunch of the accession process, a tool to back resolution of the Cypriot problem rather than to make it derail, explained the European diplomat, adding that the idea of opening accession chapters could be used as a tool for supporting the Cypriot process.
In his invitation letter to European leaders, the president of the European Council said: “When it comes to the accession process, my conviction is that we need to find a way of using the process of reenergising EU-Turkey relations, which goes far beyond migration, so that this process also becomes an opportunity to support the settlement talks in Cyprus. Only if this is possible, can we move forward here.”
MEPs on the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee said when adopting a report by Kati Piri (S&D, the Netherlands) on Tuesday 15 March that the accession issue should not be linked with management of the refugee crisis. The MEPs warned that EU-Turkey cooperation on migration must not be linked with the timing, contents or conditions of the negotiation process.
On the question of visa liberalisation for Turkish passport-holders, Europe will tell the Turkish authorities that while they are prepared to speed up the granting of the visa regime, they expect Ankara strictly to fulfil the 72 requirements requested of it. Turkey has met ten so far and around 20 are in the process of being met. Ankara has pledged to make reforms in this direction, and a European source said the aim of granting the visa system to Turkey at the end of June was “realistic”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant, Solenn Paulic and Sophie Petitjean)