Leading candidate for EU Commission presidency closes door to Turkey’s EU membership

Manfred Weber, the Christian Democrat European Peoples Party’s (EPP) candidate for the looming European elections, said on Wednesday that he will make sure Turkey will not become a member of EU once he gets elected as European Commission president.

Turkey took daring steps towards EU membership in 2004, however, the country’s administration under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took a different stance on democratic norms in the last decade, hampering the negotiations.

Weber asserted that EU wants good relations with Turkey and is willing to collaborate with the country, “But if I become Commission president, then I will instruct the offices in Brussels to end the talks with Turkey on accession to the European Union,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying.

In February, a motion on condition of the current human rights situation in Turkey was upheld by the European Parliament Committee of Foreign Affairs. It was put forth by EU’s rapporteur for Turkey, Kati Piri, and included suspension of the membership negotiations.

Piri’s findings that accompanied the motion pointed out to the ensuing violations of fundamental rights and freedoms that became commonplace in Turkey after the failed 2016 coup.

Turkish government declared a state of emergency after the putsch that lasted two years, and initiated a crackdown, dismissing hundreds of thousands from their jobs while imprisoning most of them, citing national security concerns.

The motion underlined “the use of arbitrary detention and judicial and administrative harassment to persecute tens of thousands of people,” and called on Turkish authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release all those who have been detained only for carrying out their legitimate work, exercising freedom of expression and association and are being held without compelling evidence of criminal activity.”

Turkey’s Western allies have expressed their worries regarding the state of the rule of law in the country time and again. Partly as a result of the voiced criticism, Turkey’s relations with Western countries have followed a turbulent course over the last three years.

Suspension of Turkey’s EU membership negotiations upheld pending general vote

The post Leading candidate for EU Commission presidency closes door to Turkey’s EU membership appeared first on IPA NEWS.

from IPA NEWS https://ipa.news/2019/03/07/leading-candidate-for-eu-commission-presidency-closes-door-to-turkeys-eu-membership/