German Coalition Differs on Turkey's Accession

PanARMENIAN.Net - While not calling for a final ultimatum on whether accession talks with Turkey should be put on ice, German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week during a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac called for a "review clause" allowing any of the EU's 25 members to put a hold on negotiations. Long a supporter of offering Turkey a "privileged partnership," Merkel's comments alarmed Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a member of the Social Democratic Party, which shares power with Merkel in a grand coalition government and supports Ankara's bid for EU membership.



After facing criticism from members of conservative Christian parties -- who have called for freezing membership talks with Turkey -- over a warning to Merkel about taking too harsh a line with Ankara, Steinmeier denied any difference of opinion between himself and the chancellor.



Steinmeier added that he and Merkel agreed Turkey should not be allowed to escape punishment for refusing official recognition to Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, but that a complete halt to negotiations would be an unwise overreaction. "I argue for the European reaction being marked by a sense of proportion and responsibility," Steinmeier said in Monday's edition of the German news weekly Der Spiegel. "We must not overstrain things to the extent that the process of moving closer, which has taken many years, is brought down in one week It would be a serious strategic loss for the EU" if Turkey's door to the block were to be shut…" he said.



The current Finnish EU presidency, while not specifying a number of chapters to be frozen, said in a draft proposal to the foreign ministers that "chapters covering policy areas relevant to Turkey's restrictions as regards the Republic of Cyprus" should not be opened "until the commission confirms that Turkey has fulfilled its commitments," reports Deutsche Welle.