Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-11-19-Speech-2-161"
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"en.20021119.2.2-161"2
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"Mr President, much has already been said about Turkey today. That is not at all surprising since this Parliament is a reflection of the population of the European Union and this topic is very much on the minds of our citizens at home. There are growing signs that in Copenhagen in December it is intended to give Turkey a date for the start of accession negotiations. Were the Council representative’s words today not very clear? But we are not under any pressure to move. The Copenhagen criteria have not been met and they are not negotiable. In this connection I would like to thank Mr Verheugen for speaking so clearly on the subject of Turkey.
Important as Turkey is for us, there can be no political discounts for the Cyprus question or for Turkey’s geostrategic role. Turkey has always wanted to set its own rules for accession under the slogan ‘We are not like other candidates’. Turkey has always tried to put pressure on us, but that is not the way forward. It would, after all, be an affront to the representatives of the candidate countries present here today. Nevertheless, people like the German Federal Chancellor, for example, never tire of saying they will support Turkey’s demand for a date to be set. That is not just a sign of severe incompetence in European policy. This chancellor, who has lied to and deceived his own people, is trying to make good the mistakes of his election campaign. Now relations between Germany and America are to be improved again at the expense of the European Union as a whole. Is that not pure opportunism? Is it not beyond belief? It is intolerably dishonest. It is particularly dishonest to the Turkish people. Is it not more honest to say to Turkey that there are still problems there and that we must address those problems in their own interest, because otherwise they cannot be solved? The honest thing is to say that rapprochement between Turkey and the European Union can only come about in small, steady steps, if at all. The road is still not an easy one.
We hope that Turkey, this great and proud nation, will pursue its road steadfastly in its own real interest and that it will at some point consider whether it really wants to cede so many sovereign rights to the European Union in accession or whether it would not rather cooperate with us on another level. We are making this offer even now."@en1
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