Although the German and Austrian foreign ministers, Sigmar Gabriel and Sebastian Kurz respectively, confirmed their countries' resolve on Thursday 7 September to suspend the EU accession negotiations with Turkey, many other ministers insisted on continuing the process, difficult as it might be.
"I am not in favour of a halt to the negotiations because I think that not talking is not a constructive way of moving forward", the Finnish foreign minister, Timo Soini, said on his arrival at the informal meeting (Gymnich) of EU foreign affairs ministers in Tallinn. "We must continue the process and our commitment", Lithuania's minister Linas Linkevicius stated, while recognising that this was not easy. "By stopping (the negotiations) we will not be doing a good thing because we will encourage the Turks to take distance. This would have an effect that is counter to our objectives", he said.
When asked about the negotiations being suspended, Belgium's foreign minister, Didier Reynders, said that they had been suspended de facto because unanimity is needed to be able to open or close new negotiation chapters. "For us, the negotiations are frozen. It is not a case of imagining what else there could be as regards the negotiations". This can be discussed until the cows come home, he said, "but it is not a case of resuming anything". Without giving his opinion about the future of the accession negotiations, Malta's foreign minister Carmelo Abela said that whatever decision might be taken on the negotiations with Ankara, "Turkey will remain an important partner for the EU". "We must have excellent bilateral relations with our partners", he said.
While he agreed with the German position about the customs union (in other words, not starting negotiations to update it), the Dutch minister, Bert Koenders, did not want to give his opinion on the accession negotiations. In his view, discussion will be held after the German elections – discussion that will be "very very intense", said Luxembourg's minister Jean Asselborn.
When he arrived at the meeting, Gabriel stated that 860 German companies were suspected by Turkey of supporting 'terrorists' – and this was not to mention the Germans that were in prison. There comes a time when we cannot just act as if nothing had happened, he told media.
A proponent of suspending the negotiations for months, Kurz said that initially the EU's pre-accession funds should be suspended, and he hoped a decision for this would be taken at the European Council in October. The EU's 2014-2020 multi-annual financial framework provides for over €4.4 billion in pre-accession funds for Turkey.
While Turkey's foreign minister Ömer Çelik will attend part of the Gymnich on Friday as a minister from a candidate country, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Europeans on Wednesday 6 September to decide on his country's accession to the EU. "The EU must go for it, now. Either it should keep its promise and pave the way for full accession (...) or it should say it does not want to persevere with Turkey", he said at a meeting of his AKP party. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)