Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-13-Speech-1-131"
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"en.20041213.10.1-131"2
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"Mr President, I shall begin by congratulating Mr Eurlings on his report, which offers us an accurate portrayal of the current situation in Turkey. The report reminds us that, despite the significant reforms underway in Turkey, there remain some worrying areas, such as the fact that torture still takes place, the fact that human rights are not routinely respected and the fact that the genocide of the Armenian people has not been acknowledged. The obvious question, therefore, is whether the conditions are right to begin negotiations with a view to accession.
As regards Cyprus, is it possible, or in any way acceptable, for a European Union of 25 Member States to set up negotiations with a country that only recognises in full 24 of those Member States? This strikes me as surprising, to say the least. Lastly, is the EU capable, in any case, of completely integrating Turkey, with all that that implies in financial and structural terms and as regards European cohesion?
A further question: will our external security be strengthened if we acquire borders with problematic countries such as Iran, Iraq, Syria, Azerbaijan and Georgia? I have yet to even come to the question that ought to be asked first: where will the EU’s borders end up? I am not speaking merely about geographical borders, but rather of the conceptual borders to which Mr Toubon rightly referred in his speech a short time ago.
Given all of these constraints, Parliament must at least leave the door open to an alternative to full accession, an alternative that takes account of the privileged relations with this great country, but an alternative, none the less. If this does not happen, Parliament will be making the same mistake as others in the past, namely that of giving the wrong signal, albeit perhaps for the right reasons, to the great Turkish nation, or else tying Europe to commitments that it might later not be able to meet, or might not actually want to meet."@en1
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