Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-12-11
CONTENTS
[01] FM reiterates call for clear EU message to Turkey
[01] FM reiterates call for clear EU message to Turkey
The need for the European Union to send Turkey a strong and clear
message that reflected the EU's credibility was emphasised by Greek
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis on Monday, as EU foreign ministers met
in Brussels to decide how they should respond to Turkey's refusal to
implement a customs union agreement with member-state Cyprus.
Ankara has since refused to open its ports and airports to traffic from
Cyprus unless the EU opens first opens the way for direct trade with
the Turkish-Cypriots in the occupied north of the island.
Bakoyannis underlined that this message should make it clear that the
EU was not shutting the door against Turkey, while at the same time
ensuring that Turkey progressed toward accession in accordance with the
terms and conditions set by the EU and its member-states.
Regarding a proposal for a review clause setting a new deadline for
Turkey to comply with EU demands, backed by Greece, Cyprus and Austria,
Bakoyannis clarified that this was not seen as a way of punishing that
country, while noting that the European Commission's proposal to
suspend talks on eight of the 35 chapters in the accession negotiations
was not regarded by Athens as sufficient for sending a clear message to
Ankara.
The Greek minister said that the EU's decisions should take into
account aspects concerning the normalisation of Turkey's relations with
the Cyprus Republic, whose government Ankara still refuses to
recognise, while pointing out that the EU was asked to judge a
candidate-member, for which there should be solidarity between the
member-states.
In his own address to the meeting, however, European Commissioner for
enlargement Olli Rehn said that he did not support the idea of a review
clause or a deadline for re-evaluating Turkey's compliance with customs
union, while he underlined the need to ratify the Community regulation
for direct trade with Turkish Cypriots.
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