BRUSSELS (CIHAN) - The Belgian Minister for European Affairs Didier Donfut has voiced strong support for Turkey's EU membership bid as the countdown to the October publication of the EU progress report on Turkey continues.
Didier Donfut told the Belgian La Libre Belgique daily on Wednesday that it would be a grave mistake strategically for the European Union to fail to open accession talks with Turkey.
Asked why he not prefer a privileged EU partnership for Turkey as opposed to full membership, Donfut said that the greater diversity of the European Union would constitute an element of stability, of richness and of development. "It would be grave mistake for Europe to go ahead without Turkey, which is situated at an international crossroads, and has an economic role to play, and which also embraces two cultural worlds."
EU leaders are due to meet in December to decide whether Turkey, a candidate country since 1999, has made enough progress on human rights and political freedoms for the initiation of the long-delayed accession talks with the EU.
London, Berlin, Rome and Madrid support Turkey's EU membership while Paris and Vienna are still skeptical.
"The Union should also turn to the Mediterranean countries, to Morocco as well as to the other countries of the Mediterranean basin," the Belgian Foreign Minister said.
Donfut said that the boundaries of the EU should be pushed back further. He went on to state that the factor which could oppose the EU accession of Turkey and the Northern African countries is that they also have the choice of joining another community of values which is - humanly-speaking - just as interesting as the EU.
The European Union pledges to open accession talks with Turkey without delay if Turkey fulfills the Copenhagen political criteria, the final joint declaration of the Brussels EU leaders' summit stated in June.