Parliament calls on EU to open Turkey talks

In a non-binding majority vote, the European Parliament approved on
15 December a motion that seeks to open the door to Turkey’s
membership of the EU. The vote was secret, which did not go down
well with several MEPs.

In a historic vote, 407 out of the total of 732 MEPs said ‘yes’
on 15 December to Turkey’s projected entry into the EU, with 262
MEPs voting against and 29 abstaining.

The vote is not binding on the leaders of the member states, who
are scheduled to decide at their summit on 16-17 December when
and under what conditions to open accession negotiations with
Ankara. 

Under the resolution, the EU should launch accession talks
“without undue delay”, despite the fact that problems
continue to exist in Turkey with regard to minority rights,
religious freedoms, trade union rights, women’s rights, Cyprus and
the country’s relations with Armenia. According to the MEPs, the
first phase of the negotiations should focus on the full
implementation of the relevant political criteria, and in case of
serious breaches the talks should be suspended.

The resolution underlined that the opening of the negotiations
will not automatically lead to Turkey’s accession, and stated that
membership for Turkey is conceivable only upon the approval of the
EU’s long-term budget for the period after 2014.

The resolution was passed in a secret ballot, as prescribed
in   Rule 162 of the EP’s Rules of Procedure. The move created
a pre-vote dispute, with the Socialists and the ALDE Group both
condemning what they considered the European Christian Democrats’
“tricky parliamentarian games”. The Socialists’ leader, MEP Martin
Schulz, said that “at a moment like this, it is shameful to have a
secret vote”, while the ALDE Group’s leader, MEP Graham Watson,
declared that “we reject the coward’s option”.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
reiterated his stance that “Turkey will not hesitate to say ‘no’ to
the EU if unacceptable conditions are put forward”. Turkish Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul told the Turkish daily Milliyet that his
country was not prepared to budge on keeping full membership as the
ultimate aim, and that the decision to open negotiations should not
allow for subsequent decisions or any permanent special
conditions by the EU. Furthermore, he said that Turkey must
not be forced to recognise the Republic of Cyprus.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who will host the EU
summit, said that “on the basis of the contacts that I’ve had,
a ‘yes’ seems likely to come [from the summit], but we need a
unanimous decision”. The draft final statement of the summit
describes the negotiations as an “open-ended process whose outcome
cannot be guaranteed beforehand”.

Read more with Euractiv

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