On Tuesday 11 July, Estonia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Sven Mikser said the door should not be shut to Turkey.
"Turkey remains a candidate country and a strategic partner. It is thus crucial to maintain our commitment and an open dialogue with it. The EU should remain an anchoring point, and shutting the door in this difficult period will not solve anything", he told the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, to whom he was presenting the priorities of the Estonian Presidency of the EU Council. Saying that nearly half the Turkish people had not voted for the constitutional changes, Mikser stated it was important "to move forward very carefully in order not to disappoint half the Turkish population".
In Mikser's view, it is also important to continue deep cooperation in various domains such as migration and terrorism. Speaking about the Cypriot issue, he called for a "cool head" and "to try to move forward", expecting a constructive role from Turkey. "We at one time perhaps showed too much optimism but I don't think we should give up. A more constructive approach is needed to find a solution", he added.
Reviewing the six Balkans countries, Mikser said he hoped several negotiation chapters could be opened and closed by the end of December with Montenegro and Serbia, but he did not give any further detail. More generally, he said the European outlook was "one of the big vectors of reform" for candidate countries.
Mikser also said that the Eastern Partnership was a priority for the Estonian Presidency. "We consider the Eastern Partnership has become a particularly effective instrument for supporting the reform process in partner countries", he said. The Eastern Partnership summit will take place in Brussels on 24 November.
In addition, Mikser called for a holistic approach to migration because "internal and external aspects should not be dissociated". He announced that Estonia had decided to give €1 million from its budget reserve to the trust fund for Africa. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)