Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-12-18-Speech-3-047"
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"en.20021218.3.3-047"2
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"Mr President, the Danish presidency has won admiration for the intelligent and principled way in which the summit was prepared and was made a success. In the disputes surrounding the financial arrangements, we have taken sound initiatives. In the discussions on Turkey, we were surprised by the highly original and appropriate formulations which placed responsibility for accession fairly and squarely on Turkey itself. A formulation that was even better than the final outcome. My compliments to Mr Rasmussen in particular. I must say that I was filled with pride by the starring role played by Bertel Haarder, who was formerly one of our colleagues in this House.
Mr Verheugen can now indeed look back on the difficult task he has now largely brought to a successful end with a feeling of relief. Bulgaria and Romania still have some way to go, and they accept that. If they do not achieve the target of 2004, I believe that they will do so by the 2009 elections.
Turkey is a great deal more difficult. Up until the summit, Turkey gave us the impression that she was basing her accession to the European Union on seniority of membership applications. In doing so, she was forgetting that when she applied in 1963, the European Union was only an economic community with no internal market as we have today, no elected parliament, and no political aspects or ambitions. She is now suddenly asking a whole lot more, and that is the main issue here. While the European Union has been developing at high speed, Turkey has remained trapped in the disadvantages of its Kemalist system, a system with great internal tensions and therefore with widespread repression. Anyone who did not belong to the main population group of Sunni Turkish speakers had a difficult time. During a recent visit to Turkey I realised that as a Protestant I could not live in a place like Dyarbakir, for example, without coming into serious conflict with the authorities. That is ridiculous for a citizen of the European Union in an aspiring Member State. Things have only really been moving over the past two years. There is therefore still a very long way to go.
Just as with Bulgaria and Romania, I would urge us not to be over-optimistic as regards the speed at which Turkey can change. You only have to think of the special position of the army, for example, which Mr Lagendijk has already mentioned. This position cannot simply be changed by means of a few formalities. The system is too deep-rooted for that. If you take away a cornerstone, much more may come tumbling down. It may be important to compile a list of the changes we want to see, such as to public order, which is accorded such extraordinary priority that individual human rights also suffer in many other areas as a result.
I am delighted with the stance taken by Mr Verheugen, who said that his investigation will not be based on any preconceived answers whatsoever and that it will be an honest and thorough investigation. I think that there is every reason to believe that it will be, and also that we must make sure that we are not too superficial in what we do – something that often happens. I have great faith in what Mr Verheugen has said. We want a normal Member State; we do not, for example, want a Member State that makes demands and goes through life exerting political pressure by banging its fist on the table, as we saw recently. This is unacceptable; in my view Turkey will have to demonstrate goodwill by putting an end to torture, the deliberate provocation of minorities and suchlike.
In the meantime we are looking forward to the participation of the observers from the first ten countries. This is a momentous event, and it is incredible to think that from 1989 to 2004 we have been part of this Parliament that has brought about such major historic changes."@en1
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