Upon their arrival in Bratislava for their informal meeting, on Friday 2 September, the European foreign affairs ministers showed that they are not singing from the same hymn sheet over the matter of continuing accession negotiations with Turkey. The Slovak minister, Miroslav Lajcak, hoped for a discussion on the subject.
"I am not in favour of breaking off or stopping the accession negotiations, the negotiations are the best leverage the EU could possibly have when we want to influence processing in a candidate country", Lajcak explained. The Luxembourg minister, Jean Asselborn, said that there was no point in calling a halt to the accession negotiations. He explained that the EU had more influence if it kept the accession negotiation process in place.
Their Austrian counterpart, Sebastian Kurz, on the other hand, stressed once again that he was not in favour of accession. The EU and Turkey can remain in talks and even work together on the economy and in other areas, "but I cannot see Turkey as a member (of the EU)", he explained.
The commissioner for negotiations, Johannes Hahn, said that accession talks are not a priority. "Turkey is facing a difficult internal situation and in a situation of this kind, it is important to stand by your neighbours, to talk to them and to stay in touch. At the moment, we have more important subjects to talk about with Turkey than accession negotiations", he explained, adding that it was "to some extent an artificial discussion". He referred to refugees, the stabilisation of the country, visas and economic cooperation. He went on to say that the "vast majority" of member states were not in favour of shelving the accession negotiations, temporarily or permanently.
Coup condemned and calls for human rights to be respected
Whilst condemning the attempted coup, a number of ministers also stressed the importance of respecting human rights. "We need to be clear both in our support for the Turkish authorities against the attempted coup and in our calls on these same authorities to observe the rule of law and respect the fundamental human rights", Italy's Paolo Gentiloni summed up, sharing the thoughts of Dutch minister Bert Koenders.
On 1 September, the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, called for human rights to be respected. Although the "attempt on democracy (…) requires exceptional measures to protect the democratic institutions", "the exceptional nature of the measures and of the state of emergency must not fail the test of proportionality and the rule of law", he said in a press release published after his visit to Turkey. He added that democracy meant a whole lot more than being allowed to vote. "The Parliament's support for democracy in Turkey remains unconditional", he added. He also expressed his hopes that the bonds between the EU and Turkey be strengthened, because "turning our backs on each other would only harm the citizens on both sides". (Original in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)