- Title: BELGIUM: EUROPEAN PARLIAMNET MEMBERS CLASH ON WHETHER TURKEY SHOULD BE IN THE EU
- Date: 6th October 2004
- Summary: (W6)BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 6, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT (2 SHOTS) 0.07 2. PAN JOURNALISTS WAITING 0.14 3. SV MEP, MARTIN SCHULZ, SPEAKING WITH HANS GERT POETTERING, LEADER OF EPP GROUP 0.23 4. MCU (German) MARTIN SCHULZ, MEMBER OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND PRESIDENT OF SOCIAL DEMOCRATS GROUP, SAYING: "My belief is that Europe will change Turkey more than Turkey will change Europe. When we manage to embed our western society model and our common values into a country of muslims, then the assertion of the Islamists who say that a western country and Islam is incompatible, will clearly be refuted. All the Bin Ladens of this world will be reduced to silence and the security in Europe will be strengthened." 0.52 5. MCU (French) DANIEL COHN-BENDIT, MEP, LEADER OF THE GREEN GROUP, SAYING "To integrate a country with eighty millions inhabitants in 10 years, if we do integrate Turkey, is something completely different. Turkey is not like Romania or Bulgaria. We have to stop throwing sand in the eyes of the Europeans and of the Turks. It is some really special to attempt to integrate Turkey into the European Union. But we have to call a cat a cat. It will be something extraordinary and not just an enlargement like the other enlargement." 1.26 6. SV RIGHT WING MEP FRANK VANHECKE (VLAAMS BLOK) SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS 1.28 7. MCU (Dutch) RIGHT WING MEP FRANK VANHECKE (VLAAMS BLOK), SAYING: "We also think that Turkey, a muslim country, that has no links with Europe, neither geographically, culturally or historically, should have a privileged relationship with Europe. We cannot allow that country to join the European Union." 1.42 8. SV OF ROMANO PRODI, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, WALKING 1.53 9. PAN JOURNALISTS WAITING 1.58 10. MCU (English) ROMANO PRODI, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, SAYING "The beginning of the negotiations will be stated and decided by the Council, not by us. (REPORTER'S QUESTION - DO YOU RECOMMEND THAT THEY START NEXT YEAR?) We don't say anything about that, we prepare a report and the Council will decide." 2.14 11. SV JOURNALISTS WAITING FOR REPORT TO BE HANDED OUT 2.22 12. SV OF REPORT DISTRIBUTED TO JOURNALISTS (2 SHOTS) 2.37 13. SLV PRODI WALKING INTO NEWS CONFERENCE 2.47 14. MCU (Italian) PRODI, SAYING: "A lot remains to be done on the practical implementation and to approximate the concrete reality in Turkey with the one of the European countries. That's why the report examines the situation as far as some aspects that are the most worrying for us, which is torture, women's rights, union's rights and the relationship between the civil and military authorities. In all those domains, a lot has been done, but a lot remains to be done." 3.23 15. MCU PHOTOGRAPHER 3.27 16. LV OF JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE/MCU CAMERAMAN (2 SHOTS) 3.33 17. MCU (English) EU COMMISSIONER FOR ENLARGEMENT, GUENTER VERHEUGEN, SAYING: "The Turkey that will eventually join will be a different country. It will be a country after far reaching political, social, and cultural changes. To say a last word on the famous adultery problem, in my view, the whole crisis demonstrated that there is of course a clash of values in Turkey. But it was obvious as a result of that, that those people in Turkey, those forces in Turkey which want modernisation, democratisation and liberalisation are stronger than the traditionalists and very, very orthodox circles which we still have." 4.19 18. PAN JOURNALISTS/PRODI AND VERHEUGEN 4.26 19. SLV PHOTOGRAPHERS 4.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 21st October 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Reuters ID: LVAB6BKMA23M2ZWFPWLUD2KO204J
- Story Text: European Parliament members clash on whether Turkey
should be in the EU.
The European Commission gave a green light on
Wednesday (October 6, 2004) for Turkey to open membership
negotiations with the European Union, a watershed decision
after 40 years of on-again, off-again talks.
But the recommendation by the 30-member EU executive
carried several conditions, including the possibility of
suspending talks if Ankara backtracks on democracy and
human rights.
Deputies of all political hues stressed the
recommendation by the executive European Commission that
Turkey begin entry talks did not mean to make Ankara's
membership automatic, warning that the EU was taking a huge
step into the unknown.
Even firm backers of accession talks insisted Ankara
would have to be monitored closely to make sure it was
implementing on the ground the reforms it agreed during
negotiations.
"Turkey is not like Romania or Bulgaria. We have to
stop throwing sand in the eyes of the Europeans and of the
Turks. It is some really special to attempt to integrate
Turkey into the European Union. But we have to call a cat a
cat. It will be something extraordinary and not just an
enlargement like the other enlargement," Green leader
Daniel Cohn Bendit told journalists.
Europe's leaders are afraid public doubts on Turkey
will boost the "no" vote in national referendums due across
much of Europe to approve the new EU constitution, which
backers say is vital to ensure the newly-enlarged bloc can
work effectively.
Some attacked opponents of Turkey's membership bid as
using the issue to rally eurosceptic and xenophobic
feeling, arguing it would send a signal of reconciliation
to the rest of the world if the predominantly Christian EU
took in Turkey.
The start of talks was conditional on Turkey bringing
into force outstanding legal reforms, notably of the penal
code and the code of criminal procedure, which are in the
works.
"A lot remains to be done on the practical
implementation and to approximate the concrete reality in
Turkey with the one of the European countries. That's why
the reports examines the situation as far as some aspects
that are the most worrying for us, which is torture, the
women's rights, the union's rights, the relationship
between the civil and military authorities. In all those
domains, a lot has been done, but a lot remains to be
done.", President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi
told a news conference.
The talks would be "an open-ended process whose outcome
cannot be guaranteed beforehand", the Commission said. It
proposed no start date, leaving final decisions on whether
and when to EU leaders at a December 17 summit.
The Commission made clear Turkey could not join the EU
before 2015 at the earliest, saying the EU would have to
agree its budget for the period from 2014 before concluding
the talks.
"The Turkey that will eventually join will be a
different country. It will be a country after far reaching
political, social, and cultural changes. To say a last word
on the famous adultery problem, in my view, the whole
crisis demonstrated that there is of course a clash of
values in Turkey. But it was obvious as a result of that,
that those people in Turkey, those forces in Turkey which
want modernisation, democratisation and liberalisation are
stronger than the traditionalists and very, very orthodox
circles which we still have," said EU Commissioner for
Enlargement, Guenter Verheugen.
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