| |
The Financial
Times
German chancellor Angela Merkel has been
forced to moderate her hard-line stance on
Turkey’s bid for membership of the European
Union, apparently withdrawing a proposal for
an 18-month deadline for Ankara to open its
ports to Cyprus.
She said the European Commission should
report on Turkey’s progress on this issue,
with the report to be delivered after
elections in Turkey in autumn 2007 but
before the elections to the European
parliament in spring 2009.
Her comments followed talks in Mettlach near
Saarbrücken, western Germany, with Jacques
Chirac, the French president, and Lech
Kaczynski, president of Poland.
Ms Merkel has since last week led moves
among EU countries to insert a ‘review
clause’ into an agreement at the EU summit
in Brussels next week on the partial
freezing of membership talks with Ankara
because of Turkey’s stand-off with Cyprus,
an EU member.
The clause would in effect have set Turkey a
deadline of mid-2008 to open its ports or
possibly faced further sanctions.
Mr Chirac said after the meeting that, like
Ms Merkel, he believed “consequences were
needed” because of Turkey’s unwillingness to
open its ports, a condition of EU
membership.
Ms Merkel’s appears to have been unable to
convince Mr Kaczynski of her view, however.
The Polish leader said Warsaw’s position as
a supporter of Turkey’s EU membership “had
not changed” during the talks.
Ms Merkel has also come under pressure from
Turkey and the European Commission to change
her stance, which officials in Brussels
feared would lead to new divisions over
Ankara within the EU at next week’s summit.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish prime
minister, on Tuesday told Turkish
legislators that it would be an “historic
mistake” for the EU to create new hurdles
for the country’s membership process,
according to German news agency reports.
Ms Merkel’s office confirmed to the
Financial Times that Mr Erdogan and Ms
Merkel spoke on the telephone on Tuesday
morning. The Turkish leader stressed the
“damage that would be caused” by additional
deadlines, news agencies reported.
Ms Merkel said in Mettlach that Turkey
“should not see” the proposal of a
Commission report as a sharpening of
membership conditions for Ankara, but noted
that “since something has not happened
[Turkey’s opening of its ports to Cyprus]
then some action must be taken”.
Olli Rehn, EU enlargement commissioner, on
Monday appealed to Ms Merkel and Mr Chirac
to drop the idea of a review clause, arguing
that strict deadlines would not produce the
desired results.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
|
|
