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EU’s Füle warns Turkey’s EU bid at critical stage
Stefan Füle said EU governments wanted to see proof that Turkey was serious about opening its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus, a key issue blocking Turkish EU entry talks. “I see the end of this year as a critical time when we need to solve the questions of where we go from here,” the European commissioner said in an interview with Reuters.
Turkey started its accession talks in 2005, but progress has been slow, largely because of the dispute over Cyprus. Turkey refuses to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus, urging the EU to first end the isolation of Turkish Cyprus as it promised back in 2004 following a referendum in both parts of the island on a UN reunification plan -- accepted by the Turkish Cypriots and rejected by the Greek Cypriots.
The EU insists Turkey is obliged to open its ports and airports to traffic from Greek Cyprus under an agreement known as the Ankara Protocol. “Without implementation of the Ankara Protocol or a comprehensive solution to Cyprus, the whole accession process could run into difficulties,” Füle said.
Turkey’s aspirations to join the 27-country EU are a divisive issue in Europe, with governments such as France and Germany opposing membership for the largely Muslim state of 70 million people.
However, Füle reiterated another EU position that Turkey had crucial strategic value to the bloc because of its involvement in Middle Eastern diplomacy and its importance as an energy corridor. “That’s an argument I understand ... and share,” he said.
The debate over Turkey comes at a time when the EU is building up efforts to increase its clout as a global policymaker. Ankara took a step forward on its EU path in December when EU governments agreed to open a new area of negotiations, one of 35 it needs to conclude. But many others are blocked by member states or procedural issues. This leaves only four that can be opened without lifting political objections.
Croatia and Iceland on path to join EU
Füle, who assumed his post together with the rest of EU’s new executive in February, said another EU candidate, Croatia, had entered the “final” stretch of its accession talks.
He said he hoped the ex-Yugoslav state would start talks in all areas of policy negotiations during Spain’s six-month rotating presidency of the EU that ends in June. Zagreb hopes finalizing talks this year could allow it to meet its target of joining in 2012. But it faces a tough task proving its judiciary and anti-corruption efforts are up to EU standards, a sensitive issue in the bloc since the entry of Romania and Bulgaria in 2007. Both are seen as lacking serious efforts to fight crime.
“I hope the Spanish presidency will be able to open the remaining chapters ... but it would be up to Croatia ... to implement them,” Füle said.
He also said EU governments were likely to agree to launch accession talks with Iceland in June, despite a debt spat between Reykjavik and the Dutch and British governments.
Iceland, an island state of 320,000, applied for EU membership last year when the global financial crisis decimated its banking system. Already a member of the EU’s free trade and borderless travel zones, it expected easier talks in many policy areas than other applicants. But it has run into disagreement over how to repay debts to British and Dutch savers under the Icesave scheme. “I don’t see any complications [from Icesave],” Füle said.
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