Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-01-Speech-4-017"
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"en.20040401.2.4-017"2
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"Mr President, while we consider Turkey’s possible accession to the European Union, the Copenhagen criteria have to be seen in their entirety. Arie Oostlander’s excellent report underlines this in a neutral way. It is, I think, an impartial appraisal, neither negative nor positive with regard to Turkey’s possible accession. It depends on Turkey itself whether it meets the political criteria for candidate countries, and how quickly. Whereas, the European Union has to decide if it can absorb a possible enlargement, which is to say if the Union’s economy and own structures will tolerate it. Both points of view have to be taken fully into consideration, and no external pressure can or should be allowed to change them.
I believe I at least speak on behalf of my group’s Finnish delegation when I say that many factors indicate that Turkey may now be on the right path, with accession dimly visible at its end. Membership was not promised in Helsinki in 1999, but Turkey was granted candidate status, which obviously raises expectations in that country considerably. Today we had better leave any closer assessment of the Union’s capacity for absorption: ten new countries will stretch the Union’s finances to the limit for years to come. While at the same time most net contributor countries wish to reduce the budget framework in the Union, Turkey itself has a long way to go to fulfil the Copenhagen criteria. I will mention just two points. Before we can be absolutely sure that representative democracy commands the armed forces in Turkey in all situations, and not the other way round, one cannot even think of full membership. Secondly, it is a fundamental requirement of accession that freedom of religion be established, so that all religions, which only function as religious communities, have the freedom and genuine right to found and build proper churches, just as the EU countries gladly allow non-European religions to do by way of tradition.
We should congratulate Commissioner Verheugen here, as well as Kofi Annan and the other negotiators, on the fact that the Cyprus problem, which now is even a legal barrier to Turkish accession at present, is being solved. We all hope it will now quickly end with the referendum that has been decided on.
In the long term, however, I believe that if the barriers to Turkey’s accession went away or were removed, it would be in the interests of the Union. My Amendment No 1 and Mr Elles’s Amendment No 16 are, to my mind, fully in compliance with the criteria and are not in any way an attempt to thwart Turkey’s aspiration to accession. I do, however, think that Amendment No 41 will mean Turkey will be pushed out of accession negotiations."@en1
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