Despite optimism by the EU Commission, the Parliament is not ready to step up negotiations
by Emanuele Bonini
Europe can wait. Despite optimism showed by some member of the European Commission, Turkey is not a country considered to get EU membership. Listening to the debate in the European Parliament allowed to better understand how sensible is this file, with the majority of the political groups against the idea of a Turkish access. EPP, ECR, EFDD and NI don't believe Ankara deserves to see new negotiating chapters opened, with a part of the ALDE sceptic too, for the non-existing progress on the path of the European basic values. The Euro-Asiatic country is not evolving in the sense of the Copenhagen criteria, which set the conditions for EU membership. Only Greens and part of the European left are in favour of incentives. They are sure this could help Turkey in make that changes required in order to became part of the single project. The problems is Turkey has not enough supporters in Strasbourg, so the plenary session decided to postpone the vote on Turkey's 2014 reform progress report. The point is at this stage progress are not seen by anybody, or just by few MEPs, thus there is nothing but the political message sent to the Turkish government: it's necessary «to accelerate the pace of accession negotiations and to commit unequivocally to respect democratic values and principles, which are at the heart of the European Union».
It has to be said that Recep Tayyip Erdogan is helping the European institutions to form its position, since the current Turkish government seems to have lost its appetite for EU-related reforms. The point is another. With the European Council divided and not unanimously ready to welcome Turkey (Austria, Germany, France, Cyprus and Greece are not in favour), a European Parliament critic or skeptic doesn't help the dialogue. With two EU institutions out of three, only the European Commission can be optimistic. But it is alone.
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- EU Turkey membership process to step up
Europe can wait. Despite optimism showed by some member of the European Commission, Turkey is not a country considered to get EU membership. Listening to the debate in the European Parliament allowed to better understand how sensible is this file, with the majority of the political groups against the idea of a Turkish access. EPP, ECR, EFDD and NI don't believe Ankara deserves to see new negotiating chapters opened, with a part of the ALDE sceptic too, for the non-existing progress on the path of the European basic values. The Euro-Asiatic country is not evolving in the sense of the Copenhagen criteria, which set the conditions for EU membership. Only Greens and part of the European left are in favour of incentives. They are sure this could help Turkey in make that changes required in order to became part of the single project. The problems is Turkey has not enough supporters in Strasbourg, so the plenary session decided to postpone the vote on Turkey's 2014 reform progress report. The point is at this stage progress are not seen by anybody, or just by few MEPs, thus there is nothing but the political message sent to the Turkish government: it's necessary «to accelerate the pace of accession negotiations and to commit unequivocally to respect democratic values and principles, which are at the heart of the European Union».
It has to be said that Recep Tayyip Erdogan is helping the European institutions to form its position, since the current Turkish government seems to have lost its appetite for EU-related reforms. The point is another. With the European Council divided and not unanimously ready to welcome Turkey (Austria, Germany, France, Cyprus and Greece are not in favour), a European Parliament critic or skeptic doesn't help the dialogue. With two EU institutions out of three, only the European Commission can be optimistic. But it is alone.
Related articles
- EU Turkey membership process to step up
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