During his presentation of the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU’s priorities on Tuesday 24 January, the Maltese Foreign Minister, George Vella, announced that he was in favour of closer ties between Turkey and the EU.
During the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee, he explained “Turkey is not just a candidate country but also a key partner. We are in favour of a rapprochement between Turkey and the EU and want to give this sufficient importance and for Ankara to make progress along the European path”. Although he emphasised that he was taking into account the European Parliament resolution of the 24 November in favour of freezing accession negotiations (see EUROPE 11675), Mr Vella explained that the Council did not want to break its relations with this very important country in terms of geostrategy and that it had repeated the importance of good dialogue and good cooperation with Ankara, despite the complicated situation in the country. In connection with the enlargement process, he suggested that “It would be a shame not to use an instrument that helps interaction with the EU”.
The Minister highlighted the example of Russia and warned in this regard that, “We need to be cautious and not burn all our bridges because Turkey could distance itself from the EU and this would not be in the interest of the Union… Ankara has more than one option available to it. If we cut the different channels of communication, competing actors would be ready to establish relations with Turkey”. Mr Vella explained that the Maltese Presidency would ensure that the modernisation of the customs union would receive “All the attention it deserved”.
At a more general level, the Foreign Minister explained that the Maltese Presidency regarded the process for enlargement, stabilisation and association in the Western Balkans and Turkey as extremely important. The minister said “The Slovak Presidency made enlargement a priority and we are there to pursue this path”. He therefore expressed the hope that western Balkan countries – Montenegro, Albania, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo – would pursue their respective European trajectories. The Maltese Minister added, “We are aware of the risk that delays in the process would create… public opinion could waver (opinion on the EU, Ed) (…) In this regard, the communication must be promoted and we must ‘sell’ our policies to these countries”. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)