Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-09-21-Speech-2-350"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20100921.15.2-350"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"I would like to emphasise how pleased I am that we in the European Parliament are able to agree to call for even closer economic cooperation with Turkey, in spite of a high degree of scepticism in large sections of the European population with regard to increased integration of the EU and Turkey. This scepticism is perfectly understandable. For many years, Turkey has found it very difficult to meet the requirements that the EU quite rightly sets for membership. Nevertheless, Europe must continue to press for Turkey’s future membership.
With a population of around 75 million, Turkey constitutes a huge market for European exporters, and it is already Europe’s seventh-largest trading partner. Turkey buys a large proportion of the EU’s exports, which creates growth and jobs in Europe. We buy cheap goods from Turkey, which provides our consumers with a cheaper and more diverse range of goods on the supermarket shelves. In other words, Turkey is important for Europe’s economy.
However, it is only with regard to the trade in goods that there has been increasing integration between Turkey and the EU. The service sector is lagging behind, and I would therefore call for the service sector to be included in the trade agreement. At the same time, pressure must be exerted on Turkey to remove the barriers to the free movement of goods, in particular. This is necessary to enable accession negotiations to continue. If this does not happen, it is hard to imagine us having progressively closer cooperation with Turkey. Turkey’s membership of the EU is still the long-term goal. It is therefore important that we are able to solve our mutual problems together and that Turkey fulfils its obligations as laid down in the accession agreement.
I hope that, despite scepticism regarding Turkey’s membership of the EU in large sections of the European population, we are able to retain Turkey as a close trading partner and cooperation partner, and that we do not frighten Turkey off with the numerous rejections of its future accession by the leaders of major EU countries.
We need Turkey, and not only from an economic point of view. Turkey is an important regional player in the Middle East and an important cooperation partner for NATO. So, let us not dismiss Turkey, but develop our cooperation instead, in particular, through enhanced economic cooperation."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples