On Sunday 3 September, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was in favour of a halt to the EU's accession negotiations with Turkey.
Relations between Turkey and the EU, and Turkey and Germany, have deteriorated significantly since the attempted coup in Turkey in July 2016 (see EUROPE 11596) and the referendum on the Turkish constitution in spring 2017 (see EUROPE 11744).
"I will talk to my (European) colleagues to see if we can reach a common position on this point and if we can put an end to the accession negotiations", Merkel said during a debate ahead of the German parliamentary elections on 24 September. "I can't see accession coming about and I have never believed that it could survive", she said. Member state unanimity is needed to be able to stop the negotiations – as it is for opening and closing further negotiation chapters.
Merkel also said that it was "clear that Turkey should not become a member of the European Union" and added that she would like a "clear position" adopted with regard to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
European Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas meanwhile said on Monday 4 September that the decision to interrupt the accession negotiations belonged to the member states, and he added that the EU's support to Turkey was "not unlimited or unconditional". He also said that account should be taken of the "worrying developments" of recent months. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker last week said it was important not to fall into Erdogan's trap of wanting, in Juncker's opinion, the EU to put an end to the negotiations and to take the responsibility for this decision (see EUROPE 11850).
The EU ambassadors to the Political and Security Committee (PSC) will have an informal meeting with the head of the EU delegation to Turkey, Christian Berger, on Tuesday 5 September in order to discuss the situation, a European source told EUROPE.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini was meanwhile due to meet Turkey's Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on the sidelines of the strategic forum in Bled, Slovenia on Monday 4 September. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)