Κυριακή 28 Νοεμβρίου 2010

Greece calls for new EU roadmap for Turkey, fixed dates for Western Balkans


se times

24/11/2010
Greece suggests the EU adopt a new strategy for Turkey's integration and give Western Balkan candidates specific dates for entry.
(Zaman - 24/11/10; WAZ.Euobserver, FOCUS News Agency - 23/11/10; ANA-MPA, Reuters, ISRIA - 22/11/10)


The EU should hold a summit with Turkey after the 2011 parliamentary elections there to adopt a new roadmap for the country's accession to the 27-nation bloc, Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas said on Monday (November 22nd).
"I think this is really the time to have a frank discussion with all the member states and also with Turkey," Greece's top diplomat said at a seminar, hosted by the European Policy Centre (EPC), a Brussels-based think tank. "We have to make our minds up again within the European Union, what our expectations are concerning Turkey."
The roadmap, to be discussed with the government that will take office after next year's elections, should clearly spell out Turkey's obligations and define the timeframe for implementation, according to Droutsas. That new strategy should also set "a specific date for Turkey's accession to the EU -- assuming, of course, the relevant ratifications are forthcoming from the member states and Turkey," he added.
Turkey began membership talks in October 2005, but the process has been moving at a snail's pace, largely due to Ankara's sluggish reform progress and its refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from EU member Cyprus.
In addition, some influential member states have been arguing that Ankara should be offered a "privileged partnership" rather than full-fledged membership -- a position Droutsas takes issue with.
"I do not question the qualms some member states have," Droutsas said. "What I am asking is that they not be allowed to prefigure the result or move the goalposts in mid-game. The rule we must abide by says that the road to full accession must remain open."
The prospect of eventual EU membership has proved an important catalyst of democratic reform in Turkey, so it should be encouraged to make further progress along that road, he adds.
"The more alive the European process is, the more democratic Turkey becomes," Droutsas said.
Although many of the bloc's citizens are opposed to the predominantly Muslim country's eventual EU entry, attitudes may change as Turkey implements change, he added.
"I know that when this question is put to European citizens a few years down the road, it won't be about today's Turkey," Droutsas said. "It will be about a European Turkey that respects international law and honours the principle of good neighbourly relations. A Turkey that protects the religious freedom of all its citizens and respects the rights of all the minorities living within its borders."
But he also said that Ankara cannot hope to join the EU as long as it keeps thousands of Turkish troops stationed in Cyprus's north and that the Greek Cypriots may continue to block its accession process.
Droutsas, whose country is scheduled to take over the six-month rotating EU presidency from Lithuania on January 1st 2014, also sees the need to invigorate the process of further expansion, despite the "enlargement fatigue" felt in many member states today.
Greece's previous chairmanship of the Union in the first half of 2003 ended with a successful summit dedicated to the Western Balkan countries' EU integration and the adoption of the Thessaloniki declaration, outlining a series of measures to facilitate the process.

Seven years later, Croatia is on track to join the Union as its 28th member by 2012, while the rest of the region's EU hopefuls are in various stages of the accession process.
Droutsas said that, during its 2014 EU presidency, Greece would push for a new Thessaloniki declaration, setting specific benchmarks for progress and target dates for the Western Balkan nations' admission into the bloc.
Reuters quoted him as saying that the EU could consider setting 2018 as a target date. He stressed, though, that setting a date would not mean that countries could join at that time if they have not met all conditions.
Droutsas also said that despite its current financial problems, the EU should be able to find the needed funding to assist the aspiring countries in their reform efforts.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.


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