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Southeast Europe
March 30, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
EU and Turkey summit produces commitment to keep talking
bne IntelliNews
The European Union and Turkey Leaders’ Meeting in Bulgaria on March 26 failed to produce major breakthroughs that would help get Ankara’s ambitions to join the European bloc back on track. However, there was a commitment from both sides to continue the dialogue.
The EU, deeply concerned at Turkey’s approach
to human rights since it brought in a state of emergency now in effect for more than 20 months since the attempted coup in July 2016, did not obtain any pledge from Turkey to free journalists it has jailed or improve other rights for its citizens, nor did it make significant headway over concerns about the Turkish military invention in Syria – but the meeting allowed for the first major talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in almost year, thus the commitment to continue talking can be taken as something of a breakthrough.
Erdogan, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, met in the Black Sea city of Varna. “We didn’t achieve any kind of concrete compromise today,” Tusk told a news conference held with Erdogan. “I raised all of our concerns. It was a long list, including the rule of law and press freedom, bilateral relations with member states and the situation in Syria.
“Only progress on these issues will allow us
to improve EU-Turkey relations, including the accession process,” he said adding: “We agreed
Donald Tusk (right) made a point of noting that “while our relationship is going through difficult times, in areas where we do cooperate, we cooperate well,” following a two-hour working dinner with President Erdogan (left).
that we should continue our dialogue in difficult circumstances.”
Tusk also made a point of saying that “while
our relationship is going through difficult times, in areas where we do cooperate, we cooperate well,” and Brussels is not about to underestimate Turkey’s potential importance in helping to
stem the turmoil spreading across the Middle East and in addressing geopolitical difficulties posed in relations with Russia and Iran. But relations are complicated because Turkey, which started negotiating EU membership in 2005, has imprisoned more than 50,000 people, including journalists, academics and opposition politicians, in widespread purges since the attempted coup. Scores of civil society groups, media outlets and television stations have been closed.
On the positive side, in the eyes of Juncker and Tusk, Erdogan has helped to substantially cut irregular migration to the continent after agreeing to readmit asylum seekers from the Greek islands under a €6bn package. Erdogan, however, is not happy at how the deal for that move is playing
out nor with delays in waiving visas for Turkish tourists visiting EU member states.
After the talks – described by Bulgarian officials as “charged with great tension” – Erdogan complained that the EU has so far made available only €1.8bn of the funds for the care of Syrian refugees. At the same time, Brussels, he said,