EU: ending the impasse” “

The lack of recognition of Cypriot sovereignty, the problem of the defence of human rights and minorities, the “embarrassing” silence on Armenian genocide, the uncertainties about the safeguard of fundamental liberties, including that of religion, and various reforms put on hold: these are some of the “charges” brought against Turkey during the debate in the European Parliament on Wednesday, 28 September. The Assembly discussed with the representatives of the European Council and Commission the problems surrounding the start of Turkey’s accession negotiations, before reaching the approval of an interlocutory document. The go ahead to the negotiations is expected to be given by the Council of Foreign Ministers of the 25, at their meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, 3 October TURKEY, ENDORSEMENT WITH RESERVATIONS. “A rapid normalization of relations between Turkey and all the other member states of the EU – which includes the recognition of the Republic of Cyprus – is an indispensable condition for the membership process”, says the document approved by the EP in Strasbourg. At the same time, Turkey must “fully satisfy” the criterion of the “stability of the institutions to guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the respect and protection of minorities”. The Parliament, after a rather tense debate between the political groups, approved a resolution (356 favourable, 181 against, 125 abstentions) that expresses the willingness of the EU to begin negotiations with Ankara, but that specifies that it will be “a long-term process, which by its nature will be an open process and will not ‘a priori’ and ipso facto be translated into accession”. Shortly before the EP decided to postpone the vote on the protocol that would extend the customs union with Turkey to the new member states. DEBATE ON THE FUTURE OF THE EU. But Turkey was not the only issue addressed by the EP. A year after his investiture speech, the President of the EP, the Spaniard JOSEP BORRELL, summed up the first twelve months of the legislature, affirming: “This is a difficult time for the EU, which finds itself in a phase of stalemate. Our parliamentary institution must help to overcome the impasse, with interventions on all the crucial issues for the process of integration”. According to Borrell, Europe “needs a Constitution” as also a rapid “decision on the Financial Prospects for the period 2007-2013”. Borrell’s speech was also intended as a response to the recent statements of the President of the Commission, the Portuguese JOSÉ MANUEL DURAO BARROSO, according to whom “we won’t have the Constitution for at least two or three years” and therefore “we need to concentrate on socio-economic problems” and on “a simplification of EU legislation”. THE POSITIONS OF THE POLITICAL GROUPS. Various European political exponents intervened on the same question. HANS-GERT POETTERING, German MEP, head of the People’s Party group (PPE) in the EP, explained: “In the Eighties and Nineties the EU grew and was reinforced hand in hand with democracy in Europe. I remain optimistic about the future of integration”. “The Union – he said – is the horizon within which the challenges posed by globalization need to be tackled. But we must not renounce reflecting on the values that unite us, and on our common identity, nor shun our responsibility for the problems that arise”, including further enlargement. The Constitutional Treaty remains a fixed point and those who maintain that it has been overcome are wrong”. The leader of the Socialist group (PSE), MARTIN SCHULZ, another German MEP, strongly criticized Barroso: “The President of the Commission prefers to declare to the press that it is useless to concentrate on the Constitution. But why does he not launch a serious institutional debate instead?”. The English MEP GRAHAM WATSON, head of the Liberal Democratic group (ALDE), maintained that “the impasse of the Union can be overcome by a wide-ranging debate between the institutions and by involving European citizens”. The head of the Greens, the French MEP DANIEL COHN-BENDIT, declared: “Barroso says that the Constitution is dead, that we must think of eliminating some Directives. So let him come here to the Parliament to discuss it”. ROMANIAN AND BULGARIAN “OBSERVERS”. At the beginning of the session (which also debated the recent UN summit, the status of refugees, Chinese economic competition with EU products, the steep rise in the price of petrol, railway transport and the victims of road accidents), the EP had welcomed 35 “observer deputies” from Romania and 18 from Bulgaria, who will sit in the Assembly to represent their respective countries until their official accession, scheduled for 1st January 2007. “I would like my country to demonstrate that it is sufficiently mature to enter the European Union as a full member”, explains STANMIR YANKOV ILCHEV, one of the Bulgarian observers. “But we have still a long way to go – he adds -. I am thinking of the consolidation of the internal market, customs, agriculture and the system of justice… At Strasbourg I hope to accumulate a store of experience that will later prove useful for my nation”.