Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-14-Speech-3-184"
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"en.20010214.4.3-184"2
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".
I voted against the Swoboda report which requests that EU financial aid for Turkey (almost EUR 200 million per annum) henceforth be classed under Heading 7 of the Financial Perspective “Pre-accession Aid”, along with the aid allocated to the candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe as well as, in the near future, Cyprus and Malta.
I do not think this reclassification is called for because, although the Helsinki Council of 13 December 1999 did indeed approve Turkey’s candidate status (something I would challenge, personally) it was specified that negotiations proper would not be opened with Turkey until it had satisfied the Copenhagen criteria, particularly those relating to democracy and respect for human rights.
This is a condition with which Turkey has not adequately complied to date, as everyone in Europe acknowledges. In such circumstances even those who are in favour of Turkey’s accession are forced to accept that it is more a virtual candidate than a real and genuine candidate. Why then should we grant Turkey a financial status which is not appropriate to its real status?
Our concerns are only intensified by the provocative actions of that country, following the French National Assembly’s recent acknowledgement of the Armenian genocide. Not only has Turkey failed to acknowledge its own responsibility (even though the crime should theoretically be remote enough in the past not to implicate the current government) but it has also denied the facts of the case and has even taken unjustifiable reprisal measures against French firms. This type of pressure and ongoing blackmail are inadmissible behaviour from a country which seeks admission into the European club. We do not therefore comprehend why the Swoboda report is now seeking to implement a measure which would support these misplaced positions."@en1
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