Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-10-06-Speech-3-037"
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"en.19991006.1.3-037"2
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"Mr President, I think that the new position which has been outlined for Helsinki on relations between the European Union and Turkey is a good one, and that it should perhaps be made more urgent, by stating even more firmly, the two principles on which – I believe – our approach is based.
The first is that Turkey has the right to become part of the European Union and that we need Turkey for our project, which will not be complete unless Turkey is incorporated into it.
The second is that in order for Turkey to be integrated, it must meet the same requirements accepted by the other Members of the project.
I am convinced that we need Turkey not just for reasons of security but also to regain the credibility and universality of the project of European construction. A large secular State with a majority Muslim population will prove that the Europe we are building is not a Europe with a Christian outlook, but is rather one based on universal values relevant to every citizen of Europe, of any faith or of none at all. This Europe that we are committed to is capable of sharing values with other great groups of humanity from whom a project based on a religious outlook would separate us.
If we state emphatically that Turkey’s place is ready for them, that we are waiting for our fellow European Turks to come and join us at the Union’s table, we must state, just as firmly that there will be no weakening of the conditions set out in Copenhagen. We must do this because we acknowledge that Turkey has a long way to go, basically in the area of human rights and of the rights of their various peoples and minorities, whether they are recognised as such or not, who make up the population of that country. Turkey also has a long way to go in terms of the way it acts towards Cyprus. We must make Turkey aware of this firmly but without exaggerating or caricaturing things, by describing their shortcomings and the obstacles they must overcome without shying away from them, but neither must we portray these difficulties as insurmountable. The European Union must see their shortcomings, even the most serious ones, as problems, and we will be committed to helping Turkey to find solutions to them, always bearing in mind the fact that our shared objective is to achieve the integration of Turkey into the European Union."@en1
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