Brussels, 06/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - "It's a yes", but a "qualified yes", said the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, announcing to the European Parliament on Wednesday that the Commission had given its green light to the opening of accession negotiations with Turkey. The College decided on Wednesday to bring "a positive response on respect for the criteria, and a positive recommendation on the opening of negotiations", said Romano Prodi, stressing that "these two aspects"- the overall positive response and the strict conditions "are indivisible". In the European Parliament, the Socialist groups, Greens and GUE, most of the Liberals and a proportion of the UEN group welcomed this proposal with open arms. Most of the EPP-ED party, on the other hand, reaffirmed their opposition to opening negotiations, as did the Independence and Democracy group (see below).
Turkey "is no longer one of those countries that can be described as not respecting human rights", said the Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen, explaining the Commission's positive response. "The legal framework answers all our requirements, but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired", he said. "If we had asked for 100% completion, we would never have been able to start negotiations with the ten countries which have just joined, or with Romania or Bulgaria", he pointed out.
Romano Prodi and Günter Verheugen both stressed the objectivity of their assessment of Turkey's degree of preparation, and the impact of its possible accession on the EU. "Nothing has been hidden, disguised or distorted, positive and negative aspects alike (…). The Commission has made an effort to present as objective and precise a picture as possible", said Mr Prodi. It was "not possible to draw up a more complete and precise report, watering nothing down", added Mr Verheugen.
The Commission President underlined the serious nature of the process which will lead Turkey towards accession, brandishing the threat of calling off negotiations in case of serious violations of human rights, or any steps backwards in reforms. He indicated that we must "clearly and calmly tell our Turkish partners that any stoppages in the process towards democracy, human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law as practised in the European Union will in themselves bring the negotiations to a standstill". "We must be aware that this movement is irreversible and will go on to the end", he added.
To warn Turkey and reassure European public opinion, the Commission stressed that the opening of negotiations was no guarantee of accession. Mr Verheugen said that "success is our intention, but there is always the risk that we won't end up getting there". "The road is long" and "will be marked by phases of progress, and also by moments of tension and inevitable difficulties", observed Mr Prodi. Furthermore, even after Turkey has joined the EU, safeguard clauses will remain in place: we will need a permanent clause to monitor emigration, said Mr Verheugen, stating that Turkey would not have any objections to this.
Speaking directly to "European public opinion", Mr Prodi took pains to allay the concerns raised by Turkey's candidacy, declaring: "a Europe with self-confidence and a Constitution, strong institutions and well-established policies, which is in the process of recovering economic growth and is underpinned by its model of peace, prosperity and solidarity, has nothing to fear from Turkey's accession". He underlined the "opportunities that Turkey's integration will bring us in terms of growth and prosperity".
According to the study carried out by the Commission into the impact of Turkey's accession, "Turkey's joining the EU may make a positive contribution to the Union". But long was the list cited by President Prodi of factors justifying "obvious precautions in the accession negotiations, to avoid Turkey's integration from weakening the structure we have been building for more than 50 years": geography, population, level of development, importance of subsistence agriculture… The impact study will be completed soon, said Mr Verheugen.
Throughout his speech, Mr Prodi stressed that the responsibility for the accession process belonged to the European Council, which recognised Turkey's status as a candidate in 1999, asked for Wednesday's report in 2002, and will decide on opening the negotiations on 17 December. "It is up to the European Council itself, as per its decision on December 2002, to decide on whether the criteria are being respected and thus on starting negotiations with Turkey", he observed.
The Commission has not set any objectives for concluding the negotiations, but states that accession could in no case take place before 2014. Mr Prodi used budgetary arguments to hammer this point home. "It is inconceivable that Turkey could be integrated into the financial perspectives 2007-2013 (…), which is in line with the prudent time-scale" the Commission is proposing, he told the MEPs.
Discussions within the College have been difficult, a number of Commissioners- including Frits Bolkestein, Franz Fischler, Loyola de Palacio, Viviane Reding- being unenthusiastic or hostile to Turkish accession But Mr Verheugen stressed that the decision had finally been taken "on the basis of a very large consensus". The Agriculture Commissioner, Franz Fischler, who had in the past been vocal in his opposition to Turkish accession, told the press on Wednesday that he was pleased with the opinion returned by the Commission. He appreciated that it had made clear that the outcome of the negotiations was not guaranteed, and welcomed the emphasis on all Turkey had left to accomplish, and the precautions taken to follow the process. The Austrian Commissioner stressed that Turkey's accession would be expensive: "an increase in the Community budget is absolutely inevitable".
President Borrell announces EP report before December summit
President Borrell confirmed at the plenary that the European Parliament would adopt a report on Turkey before the December European Council, because "we are the only voice which represents all Europeans".
During the debate, most of the political groups took position (some of them qualified) in favour of opening negotiations without pre-judging their results, with the exception of the European People's Party-European Democrats, the vast majority of which was against, and the Independence and Democracy group, all of which was opposed.
If Turkey joins, warned EPP-ED group president Hans-Gert Pöttering, the European Union will be "an entirely different Union", in terms of population (70 million Turks today, maybe 90 in 2020), geography, culture, living standards… The CDU MEP said that he was "astounded" to hear the European Commission say that torture was no longer systematic in Europe. This is the "mis-word of 2004, what cynicism", he said. He insisted on negotiations with open-ended outcomes, leading either to accession, or to no result, or to a privileged partnership suggested by his party, the CDU. Mr Pöttering also asked not to give into blackmail that our "no" would stop democratisation in its tracks, because I trust the Turks to continue on the path they have committed to, whatever happens. Dear Hans-Gert Pöttering, in the European Union there are eighteen conservative governments, and in the December summit they will doubtless take position in favour of opening negotiations with Ankara, said the President of the Socialist group, Martin Schulz. Our group, he said, is in favour of opening negotiations, but on four conditions: -regular monitoring, with reports presented to the Parliament on the state of play with negotiations; -recognition that opening negotiations does not automatically mean that they will join; the suspension of negotiations if the criteria are not fulfilled; long transition periods and safeguard clauses. Whilst recognising that these were not standard accession negotiations, the German Social Democrat said: a community of values such as ours should be able to prove itself capable of welcoming a country with a majority Muslim population which wishes to adhere to the same values. The ALDE group is mainly favourable to opening negotiations with no automatic guarantee of accession, but with a few exceptions (mainly UDF MEPs: Ed), confirmed its president Graham Watson, who, whilst highlighting the progress made by Turkey since Prime Minister Erdogan came to power, said: "we too must reform", and one of the Copenhagen criteria, in 1993, was the Union's "preparedness" to welcome new members. ¾ of Turks are for accession, but 2/3 think that "we'll never let it happen", noted the British Liberal Democrat, wondering why they had so little trust in us. I hope they don't suspect cultural religious prejudices. He voiced his hopes for a world in which the three major monotheist religions could live in harmony. And I, said the president of the Greens/EFA group, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, would like to see a world where believers and non-believers can also live in harmony. The Greens are all for the opening of negotiations with Ankara, said the German Green, who said that he was confident that if Turkey joined, the EU would change, but not in its essentials. We have faith in the Union's strength, he said. On the debate about the criminalisation of adultery in Turkey, he said to Mr Pöttering; you and your friends wanted to criminalise adultery for many years.
In conclusion, just as there is the "Rhine miracle" (French-German reconciliation), the "Oder miracle" (that with Poland), I am now awaiting the "Bosphorus miracle". The GUE/NGL is "favourable in principle" to opening negotiations, for exactly the reasons the conservatives oppose it, i.e. nostalgia "for a white Christian Europe", said the group president, Francis Wurtz. According to the French Communist, Turkey's accession would strengthen the country's "democratic dynamism" and the role of Europe in a region "where others spread chaos and war". However, "I would not describe Erdogan as my friend", he said, reiterating the limits of current reforms, and also referring to the situation in Cyprus and the Armenian genocide. Mr Wurtz also voiced concern at the fact that the Commission's impact study refers to the opportunity to make Turkey into "a military player in CFSP", or to use it "as a buffer for asylum seekers from the Caucuses".
The EU is not ready to welcome Turkey, and the Independence and Democracy group is against negotiations being opened, said its president Jens-Peter Bonde clearly and unambiguously. With the European Constitution, demography will be the "essential element", the small countries will disappear and the two large countries, Germany and Turkey, will dominate the decision-making processes, said the Danish MEP. In the group of the Union for a Europe of Nations, opinions differ, but the vast majority agrees with beginning open negotiations given that "the very nature" of negotiations is "open", declared Brian Cowley from Ireland. The latter also appealed for harmony between he civilisations and the dignity of difference., while protesting against accusing someone of being a Christian or conservative. The clearest no came from the far right, via Philip Clayes from the Vlaams Blok.
Elmar Brok, president of the foreign affairs committee, confirmed his scepticism: Turkey does not yet fulfil the political criteria. He exclaimed that if the Commission said that negotiations on financial aspects of accession could begin in 2012, this clearly betrayed the uncertainty of the EU's ability to integrate Turkey. the MEP appealed for making sure that the Turkish question did not complicate or prevent ratification of the European constitution. A different message came from Dutch Green Joost Lagendijk, president of the EP/Turkish Grand Assembly delegation. He declared that negotiations could begin next year, would the "quiet revolution" in Turkey would find comforting. He also considered that the Commission would be going a little too far if permanent suspension was spoken about with regard to negotiations. Addressing the "Commission of tomorrow", the MEP warned that the EU "should not play on fears but rather prevent them".
Verheugen responds to question of torture in Cyprus
Answering the criticism made by Mr Pöttering about the question of "systematic" torture in turkey (see above-, Mr Verheugen said that he found the remarks by the Head of the EPP-ED group "hurtful, as no-one has harassed the Turkish government as much as I have to get a 'zero tolerance' to torture". Verheugen underlined that the opposite of "systematic torture" is not "non systematic torture" but cases of "bad individual treatment". In individual cases that still exist in Turkey, Verheugen said there were too many but that this did not mean they were sustained or supported by the state or government. On the contrary, the government has launched a policy of zero tolerance against these individual practices "and there is no doubt that Mr Erdogan's government will take this fight very seriously". "The state does what it wants", declared Cem Özdemir a German Green of Turkish descent. He criticised those who are presenting themselves as the great protectors of civil liberties today when they did nothing in the 1980s when there were massive human rights violations and "hundreds of thousands of opponents disappeared in torture caves". Cypriot Mario Matsakis (ALDE) criticised the Commission's report for "entirely neglecting" the division of Cyprus "a country which is still not recognised by Turkey". he asked why they had not made recognition of Cyprus a preliminary condition for opening negotiations. Verheugen said that this problem had to be resolved at the UN and in the Kofi Annan peace plan. Following the failure of the reunification referendum , it would be unfair to penalise Turkey. Renate Sommer (CDU) asked why the Commission had not recommended a waiting period of a year or two before beginning negotiations, which could have checked whether Turkey would effectively implement the necessary legislative changes for meeting the political criteria, which have not been fulfilled at all, notably for women's rights, which continued to be assaulted. She stated that any future candidate would refer to the Turkish precedent to call for premature opening of accession negotiations. If the Commission had proposed such a waiting period, Verheugen replied, "the consequences would have been an immediate halt to the ongoing reforms, given that the reforms are inseparably linked to the country's European prospects.
MEPs want to be involved in monitoring system, explains president Borrell
Josep Borrell has noted the need for a "democratic debate" on major subjects like Turkish accession to the EU. He pointed out that the EP would express itself politically during the session on 1-2 December and that they were expecting this opinion to be taken very seriously into account by Heads of State. He also pointed out that at the end of the process, the European Parliament had the key to accession as it could say yes or no to Turkish accession, as it could for other candidates. The parliament will hold another debate on the subject on 26 October and its foreign affairs committee will draft a report which after its adoption in plenary, he would present to the December summit. Borrell said that without prejudging future discussions he considered that a consensus appeared to be emerging between the MEPs on five points: the crying need to involve public opinion in the "historic debate"; the need for Turkey to apply 100% of the reforms and that they make sure they are transposed (also the pursuit of those guilty of torture; the system of monitoring suggested by the Commission and which MEPs wanted to be so closely involved; the use of a possible suspension clause for negotiations. Borrell also noted divergences between MEPs, notably on the option of privileged partnership status to negotiate with Turkey.