EU wants to resume Turkey talks, embrace Albania
(BRUSSELS) - The EU's executive Wednesday urged the bloc's governments to reopen stalled membership talks with Turkey despite Ankara's crackdown on protesters, and also open the door to Albania's entry.
The Commission's much-awaited yearly enlargement report, its score-card on democratic progress achieved by EU aspirants, rebuked Ankara for an "uncompromising stance in the face of dissent" and the use of "excessive force" by police against protesters.
But it urged the 28 European Union states to confirm their willingness to give new impetus to ties with Turkey by resuming talks -- and even widening them out to include new chapters touching on fundamental rights and freedoms.
Despite criticism from some quarters that the bloc has grown too big too quickly, the EU's enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele on the contrary hailed "the transformative power" of the enlargement process.
He said the many benchmarks set by the EU so a country could join -- respect of the rule of law, good economic governance -- had helped bring the troubled Balkans region into the democratic fold and this year led to a historic accord between Serbia and Kosovo.
"Once a country is a candidate it delivers," he said, calling for more emphasis on basic freedoms and minority rights.
"Enlargement is one of the EU's greatest achievements, and the UK strongly supports further enlargement" added Britain's Europe Minister David Lidington, who welcomed Fuele's decision to put the emphasis on fundamental issues such as rights.
The commission report praised Turkey for key reforms over the past year, including major judicial reforms and the start of a peace process with Kurdish groups to end conflict in its south-east.
However, the Turkish minister responsible for relations with the European Union, said the bloc was "moving away from Turkey day by day", according to comments reported by the Anatolia news agency.
Egemen Bagis said his country was "ready to join" the EU but had become fatigued by drawn-out accession negotiations which began in 2005, meaning that "interest shown by the Turks for membership decreases each day".
The yearly Commission report also urged EU governments to formally recognise Albania as a candidate for membership.
Praising Tirana for holding "smooth and orderly" elections this year and battling crime and corruption, the "Commission recommends that Albania be granted candidate status", the report said.
But it warned this was on the proviso that Albania "continues to take action in the fight against organised crime and corruption" and urged the country to make more progress on areas such as rule of law and fundamental rights.
Should the 28 EU states open the door to Albania, which initially applied in 2009, it will be among six countries recognised as candidates to join the 500-million-strong bloc, including Montenegro, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Iceland.
Croatia was the latest to join, becoming the bloc's 28th member in July. Still in line are Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo.
Macedonia is bogged down in a row over its name with neighbouring Greece, Iceland this year decided to put its application on hold, and Kosovo still needs to win recognition from five EU states.
Doubts have been raised over Turkey ever joining the EU
Turkey began accession talks with the EU at the same time as Croatia, as far back as 2005. But they have broken down because of its log-standing territorial dispute with Cyprus, a member of the bloc since 2004, as well as opposition from major powers France and Germany.
After a three-year freeze, the bloc in June finally agreed to reopen the dialogue but delayed the actual resumption for several months because of Ankara's tough crackdown in May and June against anti-government protests.
Wednesday's report is expected to be put before a European Affairs ministers meeting October 22 who will confirm or reject the June decision to open talks on Chapter 22.
The chapter is among 35 sets of EU rules and regulations that candidate states must satisfy before winning entry to the club.
A fresh delay in opening it would raise doubts about whether the predominantly Muslim country of 76 million people will ever be admitted to the European club.