Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2014-03-11-Speech-2-857-000"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2014-03-11"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:2013 progress report on Turkey (debate)2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20140311.74.2-857-000"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2014-03-11-Speech-2-858-0002
lpv:speaker	lp:Geoffrey Van Orden2
lpv:spoken text	"Madam President, with municipal elections at the end of this month and presidential elections later this year, and given the crises all around the region, obviously this is a crucial year for Turkey, and indeed for Turkey’s relationship with the European Union. We have to ask what signals we want to send. Can I say, first of all, that many of us want to see major changes in the nature of the European Union itself. In particular, we want to get away from the obsession with political integration. Instead, our citizens want to focus on economic growth and improved international competitiveness. They are concerned about free movement as an unqualified right, and in these dangerous and unstable times they prefer the guarantee of NATO, rather than the theatricals of EU defence policy. It is in this context that we should view our relationship with Turkey. It is very much in our interest to do all we can to ensure that Turkey continues as a stable, increasingly prosperous, free-market secular democracy, firmly oriented to the West, and a strong NATO ally. How much easier for Turkey, therefore, if the EU is a rather looser structure, focused on the single market. How much easier for our own citizens to accept Turkey if the free movement issue is properly addressed, including with a long transition period. On this basis, let us send positive signals to Turkey, open the energy chapter, give fresh vitality to negotiations, provide increased humanitarian assistance to the refugees in Turkey’s border areas and encourage the talks on the reunification of Cyprus, recognising that this is a genuinely two-sided issue which would be helped by substantive confidence-building measures from both Greeks and Turks. I hope that the Greek Presidency of the Council could be more helpful in this particular area."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	substitute; TRAN (2012-01-19--2014-06-30)3 vice-chair; PECH (2011-12-13--2014-06-30)3 substitute; Delegation for relations with India (2010-07-07--2014-06-30)3 member; SEDE (2012-01-19--2014-06-30)3 unknown; Conservative Party (2009-07-14--2014-06-30)3 substitute; Delegation for relations with the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (2009-09-16--2014-06-30)3 member; Delegation for relations with Iran (2009-09-16--2014-06-30)3 member; AFET (2012-01-19--2014-06-30)3 substitute; Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee (2009-09-16--2014-06-30)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"(The speaker agreed to take a blue-card question under Rule 149(8))"1 "Geoffrey Van Orden,"1 "on behalf of the ECR Group"1
lpv:videoURI	<go to Events_and_structure europarl>2

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