Europeans plan on reviewing the relationship between the European Union and Turkey at the next NATO summit on Thursday 25 May.
At the end of the EU27 summit on Brexit, on the sidelines of which German Chancellor Angela Merkel met European Council President Donald Tusk, Merkel said that Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker would try to meet Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (see other article).
The previous day, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini had said that Turkey had to respect the rule of law if it still wants to join the EU.
"If Turkey is interested in accession negotiations, it knows very well what it implies, especially in the field of human rights, rule of law, democracy, fundamental freedoms including media freedom, obviously the death penalty, and the respect of international law", Mogherini said at the end of the informal meeting of European foreign affairs ministers in Valletta, Malta (see EUROPE 11777).
These criteria are "extremely clear and very well known to Turkey", she stated, adding that it is now up to the Turks to express again their desire to join the EU, if this is the case. However, at this stage, the EU accession negotiations continue and are "not suspended, nor ended, but (...) we are currently not working on opening any new negotiation chapter", she said. The opening of negotiation chapters requires unanimity from the EU member states.
Do the constitutional amendments approved by a referendum in Turkey on 6 April (see EUROPE 11769) mean the end of EU accession negotiations? In Mogherini's view, this depends on how these amendments are implemented. She hopes that they will be integrated in accordance with the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and the OSCE report from the referendum observation mission. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)