Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-12-01-Speech-3-134"
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"en.19991201.10.3-134"2
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"Mr President, once again, a few weeks after the debate on extending the SOCRATES programme to young people in Turkey, Parliament is going back to addressing the controversial issue of relations between the European Union and Turkey. This time, instead of culture, the nature of the European intervention is intended to support the social and economic development of the Mediterranean country and, for the umpteenth time, the question that we are all silently asking ourselves remains: can, and indeed should, the European Union in any way support a State that is geographically close, if not contiguous, surrounded by the same sea that washes upon the coasts of Southern Europe, even if that State appears extremely distant as regards respect for human rights? We are disappointed to note that since 1996, the year when the Aegean Sea crisis led the European Community to block the agreement on the Customs Union with Turkey, no headway has been made towards obtaining total respect for civil rights and the protection of minorities. While the Turkish Government has made some half-hearted attempts in recent years, the recent death sentence placed on the Kurdish leader, Mr Öçalan, has made any possible political
between Turkey and the European Union more remote. And yet, as we have maintained several times in this Chamber, the process of a community’s democratic growth also occurs through its economic and social development. To deny the financial aid proposed by the Commission for the next three years for the development of the Customs Union would, especially at this tragic time when this Mediterranean country is on its knees following a terrible catastrophe, contribute to exacerbating a downward spiral with unimaginable consequences to Turkey.
To conclude, the Italian delegation from
thinks it more sensible to have a carefully considered acceptance of cooperation with Turkey, subordinating it to specific, tangible actions to bring its government into line with western European democracies. Democracy has a price, Mr President: asking Turkey to pay it is an act not of weakness, but of great responsibility."@en1
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