Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-07-09-Speech-3-296"
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"en.20080709.32.3-296"2
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"Mr President, let me first thank Elmar Brok and the committee for a highly interesting report.
I sincerely hope that calm and reason will prevail, so that Turkey can avoid stagnation and instead make progress and continue on its European journey with a clear sense of direction and determination.
I would like to use this opportunity to add a few words concerning today’s events in Turkey and join Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet in this matter. The Commission strongly condemns the kidnapping of three German tourists in eastern Turkey, and we call for their immediate release. The Commission strongly condemns the violent armed attack in Istanbul this morning. I would like to express my condolences to the family and friends of the policemen who were killed, and I wish the injured policemen a speedy recovery.
To conclude, enlargement was always going to be a long-term effort and one which has to ride out political storms in Ankara, Belgrade, Brussels and many other capitals in Europe. We cannot take any sabbaticals from this work for peace and prosperity that serves the fundamental interest of the European Union and its citizens. I trust I can count on your support in this regard.
Your debate takes place while the EU is reflecting on the situation created by the Irish ‘no’. At the same time, the course of events in south-eastern Europe reminds us of our immediate responsibility to promote stability and democracy on the European continent.
The EU’s consolidated enlargement agenda covers the Western Balkans and Turkey. I welcome the report’s firm commitment towards their membership perspective. The Commission shares many points of the report, including integration capacity, which is definitely an important issue to be taken into account in EU enlargement.
I note with interest the report’s proposal on a European Economic Area Plus for relations with countries that are not part of the current enlargement agenda. In the face of economic globalisation, it makes sense to extend the European legal and economic space and thus to make the wider Europe stronger in terms of our soft regulatory power.
Yet for the Western Balkans and Turkey, which have a clear membership perspective, the EU must not impose new intermediate stages before candidacy or accession. That would only create doubts about the EU’s commitment, thus weakening the necessary incentive for democratic reform.
The June European Council last month reaffirmed its full support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans. It is a powerful message: the EU keeps its word. This is also a vital message to Turkey. The EU accession process is advancing: two more chapters were opened in mid-June.
With regard to Turkey, last year we kept the process alive together and muddled through very troubled waters. It was a victory that required vision and stamina.
The stage was set for success in 2008, so as to revitalise Turkey’s EU accession process this year. Sadly, we have not seen such revitalisation, for reasons mainly internal to Turkey.
We in the EU want to continue the process according to the terms defined in the negotiating framework. For its part, Turkey now needs to improve the democratic functioning of its state institutions and work towards the necessary compromises to continue EU-related reforms."@en1
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