BY FERAI TINC (HURRIYET)
Columnist Ferai Tinc writes on the European Union’s Thessaloniki (Salonika) summit which began yesterday and Turkey’s EU membership bid. A summary of her column is as follows:
‘You invited other candidate countries to the intergovernmental conference as observers, but why have you excluded Turkey?’ Six months ago, this is what I asked one of the EU Commission officials at the Copenhagen summit.
‘The EU Commission invites to this conference only the candidate countries which have already begun their membership negotiations,’ he explained then. ‘Turkey cannot attend as an observer, since it has yet to begin its membership talks.’
Now I’m taking a look at the draft final declaration of the current Thessaloniki summit. The main subject of this gathering will be ‘New Europe,’ in other words, the new draft constitution of the enlarged Europe. The commission is due to present the final text of the draft Constitutional Treaty at this summit.
‘Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey are set to attend all sessions of the summit as observers,’ says the draft final declaration. Romania and Bulgaria have already begun their membership talks. Therefore, the EU’s invitation to our country is a significant development which should be seen as an overt expression by the Commission that the EU and Turkey have recently entered a critical phase in terms of their bilateral relations. This is a sign that the EU, previously unwilling to set a date for our membership negotiations, is trying to please Turkey this time.
One of the most important issues to be discussed at the Thessaloniki summit is the Balkans. The EU is about to enter a new enlargement process. ‘The unification of Europe will not be complete until our friends in the Balkans are part of the family,’ said European Commission President Romano Prodi on Wednesday. ‘We are confident that all the countries in the region are determined to do their bit and speed up their reform process. To implement the agenda, we clearly need financial resources that match our ambitions. From this viewpoint, our total finance for the region will rise by 210 million euros over the next three years… So my appeal to the region is: Go ahead and work hard so we are “obliged” to give you more money.’ These words are very important also for Turkey. Our government must do its utmost to be included in this new enlargement process. If we fail to take part in it, our country will suffer great losses both economically and strategically.
Finally, work on the seventh harmonization package is underway. We are taking significant steps. However, the important point is not so much to change packages but rather our minds. Our remaining anti-democratic practices should be brought to an end as soon as possible. Failing this, all our efforts will come to naught.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION