Brussels, 07/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - The president of the EU-Turkey delegation, Joost Lagendijk (Greens, NL), told the press on Wednesday that he hailed the Commission's recommendation to open talks with Turkey (see yesterday's EUROPE, pp.3-6). Supporting the Commission's choice to demand facts and not just promises ("a lesson from the last enlargement"), Joost Lagendijk noted: "No date for opening or closing the talks is included in the report" by the Commission. In his view, 2005 would be an excellent time for beginning the talks. The MEP also pointed an accusing finger at the "long transition periods" contemplated by the Commission for the free movement of persons, if not the possibility of "permanent safeguards" which, in his view, "do not obey the rules of the Treaty". Furthermore, he went on to say, "this does not take account either of the economic conditions or of the needs of immigrants, issues that will face the EU at that time".
In answer to criticism from the president of the EPP-ED Group, Hans-Gert Pöttering, concerning the fact that there was no mention of a possible third way in the Commission's report, Joost Lagendijk simply recalled that "on this question of privileged partnership option, the EPP-ED Group is in the minority at the EP".