Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-14-Speech-2-067"
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"en.20001114.3.2-067"2
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".
Mr President, I should like to start by extending my express thanks to Mr Morillon and Mr Seppänen for their reports. Mr Morillon, in my view, your report is an exceptionally realistic and responsible report. We have indeed seen a number of interesting symbolic acts on the part of the Turkish Government since the Helsinki Council resolution several months ago. However, nothing has been done to change the horrendous situation in Turkish jails, discrimination against the Kurds or Turkey's policy on Cyprus. The constitutional role of the Turkish military, which is irreconcilable with the rule of law and democratic mores, has become, without doubt, one of the keys to future relations between the EU and Turkey and will only be resolved if the military relinquishes its power. There may well be differences of opinion on the Morillon report within my group, but one thing is clear – and I imagine this is true of the other groups – and that is that we have no intention whatsoever of mitigating our criticism on these issues. Compromise is possible almost everywhere, except here.
The most important and tangible result so far is that a debate has begun and a certain degree of political differentiation has started to emerge in Turkey. We must acknowledge and actively support this. Nonetheless, what we are looking for here is not just compliance with the Copenhagen criteria but compulsory democratic standards. Turkey's membership on this basis, rather than for the geo-strategic reasons put forward by the USA or NATO, would enrich the European Union and represent a significant step towards a united Europe.
I have not overlooked the problems which this might cause, such as the fact that, geographically, the EU would then stretch well beyond Europe into what are highly unstable regions from the point of view of security policy. The fact that the strategic aspects of the prospects of European integration have been addressed neither by the governments nor, Commissioner, by the Commission, and have not been discussed with Parliament in connection either with Turkey's candidate status or with current enlargement to the east is, in my view, unacceptable given the implications. In my experience – the experience, I may add, of a life which knows just as much about radical social change as the refusal to recognise the need for it in time –, there is no substitute for critical candour. Anything else would simply play into the hands of those in the EU and in Turkey who oppose this membership. And that is where, Commissioner Verheugen, I start to lose the plot in your progress report. When you visited Turkey in March, you at least referred to the Kurdish problem by name, as you did here today. Your report makes no mention of this problem per se. I think that is a tragic step backwards in comparison with the old Commission's 1999 report. Truth is where the concept corresponds with its reality. At least that is what Mr Hegel believed. I have yet to see any real progress in Turkey, but I do believe it is possible. But, in my book, the Commission report is a real step backwards."@en1
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