Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-03-28-Speech-3-106-000"
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"en.20120328.18.3-106-000"2
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"Madam President, first of all can I join in the congratulations to Ria Oomen-Ruijten. It is a good report. Of course there are many aspects of the report which we might have liked to see worded in a rather different way and I appreciate that there are strong feelings on the subject of Turkey on all sides of the House.
For my part, I have always been supportive of Turkish aspirations towards the European Union and I am particularly appreciative of Turkey’s role as a key ally over the years. But I have to ask, is the European Union being helpful enough? Is it sending a really positive message to Turkey? In particular, we see consistent obstruction from certain rather obvious quarters regarding Turkey’s European aspirations and status. This is unrealistic, it is unjust and it prevents progress. We make demands of Turkey but we should reciprocate with movement in Turkey’s direction. For example, Cyprus, which my good friend and colleague Mr Duff has mentioned: this should not feature in Turkey’s accession but we all know that it is in fact a factor. There are constant demands for Turkey to make unilateral concessions and in return she gets nothing.
The EU is supposed to have ended the isolation of Northern Cyprus. Whatever happened to that? By all means call for reductions in Turkish troop numbers in the north of Cyprus and for agreement to the Additional Protocol, but match this with opening trade through the ports and airports in Northern Cyprus. I have to say that the assumption of the EU Presidency by the Republic of Cyprus in the second half of this year would present a great opportunity for progress if there was real courage. If there is a genuine desire to reunite the island of Cyprus then the Turkish Cypriots need to feel they are actually welcome and respected in the island that they share.
I have to say we regret that some unhelpful amendments have been tabled to the resolution, but overall the resolution is balanced and reasonable and the ECR Group will support it."@en1
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"(The speaker agreed to take four blue-card questions under Rule 149(8))"1
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