Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-01-Speech-4-045"
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"en.20040401.2.4-045"2
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"Madam President, I want to pay tribute to Mr Oostlander’s report and to him for seeking compromises. There is absolutely no doubt in this House that Turkey is an important partner and that it will remain one. Partnership, however, does not automatically mean full membership of the European Union. Mr Leinen mentioned the 1963 Association Agreement. This puts it in explicitly negative terms, stating that: ‘the possibility of accession to the European Economic Community at a later date is not excluded’. Those – no more and no less – are the words used.
After two decades of absolute standstill, Turkey has at last got down to the task of changing its laws. As it progresses towards more democracy and more human rights, that can surely be seen in a positive light. Even though the Turkish Prime Minister has announced his intention of amending another 15 to 20 paragraphs of the constitution in April and May, these changes take no account as yet of important demands made by the European Parliament, for such things as freedom of religion and the repeal of the 10% clause in order to protect political minorities. We have therefore tabled motions highlighting the possibility of an alternative to deciding in favour of or against full membership, that alternative being a privileged partnership. Let nobody assume that the decision on this will be for the Council alone. The next Parliament to be elected – which will sit from 2004 and 2009 – must possess in full the prerogative of saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and of devising alternatives. I therefore ask the Members of this House to treat the amendments we have introduced on this subject as the dignity of this Parliament and of our position require.
Let me say one last thing about the Copenhagen criteria: important though they are, they are not enough. The Turks must bear in mind that the criteria cover not only the Cyprus issue, but also the question of whether the European Union is itself in a position to welcome their country into membership. We cannot allow ourselves to get involved in a risky undertaking that would test to the utmost the EU’s political and economic capacity to act."@en1
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