“We are engaging Turkey and pursuing accession talks because it is the best leverage we have to help Turkey modernize,” Stefan Fuele told a session in the European Parliament on Tuesday.
Turkey faces opposition to its accession bid from conservative governments in Germany and France as well as some other EU states.
But Fuele, a former Czech minister for Europe, rejected calls for Turkey to be limited to a privileged partnership under which it would have close ties with the EU but not membership. “Privileged partnership is not on the table,” he said.
The Czech diplomat, however, warned that the chances of progress by Turkey towards membership are limited if it does not open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus, a step which the EU says Ankara is required to take under a 1973 protocol. “I will do all I can ... to make absolutely clear to them [Turkey] that they need to implement that protocol and I will report to you [on its implementation] at the end of this year,” he said.
