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EP: Germany should achieve direct trade with N. Cyprus

The New Anatolian / Ankara with agencies
14 December 2006


The European Parliament criticized Turkey for refusing to open its ports to the Greek Cypriots but also called on the EU members to move forward with a "direct trade" regulation that would put an end to the isolation of Turkish Cypriots.

The European Parliament held a keynote debate on enlargement yesterday, just ahead of this week's European Council, where enlargement will be a main agenda item. The debate was opened by Parliament's two rapporteurs from the group of Christian Democrats, MEP Elmar Brok and MEP Alexander Stubb.

The reports from Brok and Stubb were approved following discussions. With the last-minute amendments on the report, the European Parliament criticized Turkey for its reservations to open its ports to the Greek Cypriots and stressed the partial freezing of talks were an "inevitable consequence of Turkey's position."

The Parliament expressed regret for the failure of the Finnish Presidency's efforts to reach a compromise solution but encouraged next EU Term President Germany to move forward with a "direct trade" regulation that would put an end to the isolation of Turkish Cypriots. Parliament also suggested the definition of a timeline to achieve goals on the issue.

Talking on behalf of the Presidency during the debate, Finnish Trade and Development Minister Paula Lehtomaki expressed support for the continuation of Turkey's accession talks "The Presidency has done everything in its power to keep the negotiations going. We are happy with the Council's decision taken on Monday," Lehtomaki said. She underlined that progress in the accession process can only happen on the basis of internal reform and the accession conditions being actively met.

Concluding, she told MEPs, "There is a degree of enlargement fatigue around. By communicating timely and factually accurate information, we can break the spell of fatigue."

Dutch MEP Joost Lagendijk, for the Greens/EFA, stressed that each EU candidate "must be judged on its merits" and that "difficult issues must not be put off to the end." On the question of "absorption capacity or integration capacity," he regretted that some were using these terms "as an argument against enlargement."

He then emphasized that, while he was in favor of the western Balkan countries and Turkey as EU candidates, he was sure further enlargement "will not work with the current institutional framework." Moreover, public support was essential, and to get this, "credible arguments, stressing the Union's long-term interests" must be made by leaders who did not just listen to the latest opinion polls. This particularly applied in the case of Turkey. "We cannot base ourselves on rumor and fear in the Union," he concluded.