Turkey considers EU accession talks deal
Turkey was haggling over the small print of EU accession terms today.
The proposed deal presented to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan poses three headaches for the Turks – formal recognition of Cyprus, “safeguards” to prevent too many Turks emigrating to the rest of the EU after membership and no guarantees that accession negotiations will lead to full EU membership.
Britishgovernment officials insisted the formal recognition of Cyprus was a mere technicality, but it could be difficult for Mr Erdogan to “sell” back home as a political price worth paying to join the EU.
The “safeguards” are because Turkey is so large, the impact of the normal free movement rights given to any EU citizens to live and work anywhere else in the Union could be destabilising. So the EU accession offer includes the option to restrict free movement – nothing ever imposed on previous EU applicant nations.
And never before has an accession deal raised the notion that the negotiations may not result in full membership.
The draft conclusions the summit hopes to confirm later today state: “The shared objective of the negotiations is accession. These negotiations are an open-ended process, the outcome of which cannot be guaranteed beforehand.”
They also state that “permanent safeguard clauses may be considered” in areas such as free movement of Turkish citizens to other EU member states.
Mr Erdogan and his team were weighing up the benefits and disadvantages of the deal today, aware that, although not exactly what he wanted, it is probably the best offer the Turks are likely to get as the basis for starting talks.
Having waited for more than 40 years for the opportunity, EU leaders were banking on the Turkish regime seizing the chance now, rather than gambling on a better offer later.
