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  • Public debate on Turkey to come

    Public debate on Turkey to come

    01.07.2004 - 09:01 CET | By Honor Mahony

    EUOBSERVER / THE HAGUE - The Dutch EU Presidency has pledged to be fair
    on the question of whether Ankara is ready to start EU membership
    negotiations amid concerns that the EU may not be ready for Turkey.
    "The Netherlands feels a responsibility to make sure that our decision
    is well-reasoned and rock-solid", said Dutch prime minister Jan Peter
    Balkenende on the eve of the Dutch EU Presidency.
    While the European Commission will decide in the autumn whether Ankara
    has met the political criteria for joining the 25-nation block, Mr
    Balkenende says this is just one of two types of debate that will take
    place.
    The Dutch leader said that discussion on the political criteria is
    "technical".
    The second discussion amongst the European public is likely to centre
    around whether "an Islamic country belongs to Europe".
    However, the Dutch are insisting that this debate, as well as whether
    the EU is actually ready for a country the size of Turkey, should not be
    additional criteria.
    "We need fair play ... the rules of the game are clear", said Mr
    Balkenende referring to the fact that if the European Commission decides
    that Ankara is ready, it will then be up to leaders in December to
    actually decide, on the basis of the report, to open negotiations
    without delay.
    Late debate
    With French leadership ambivalent on Turkish EU membership, the
    opposition Christian Democrats in Germany actively opposing it and the
    Austrians also making negative sounds, the Dutch do feel that a debate
    will come - it is just later than it should have been.
    Referring to 1999, when EU leaders actually decided to give Turkey
    candidate status, Dutch Europe minister Atzo Nicolaļ said, "that was the
    time for debate".
    He added, "I think the leaders knew what they decided but the public
    didn't know".
    However, it is too late for the "principle debate" of whether Turkey
    should join the EU, he concluded.
    "We have to realise Turkey has to be ready and the European Union has to
    be ready".
    Mr Nicolaļ also conceded that there is a risk that the planned Dutch
    referendum on the Constitution, which is set to happen in the same
    timeframe as a decision on Turkey, may be linked to the issue.
    "That is always a risk", he said.
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