/ 17 December 2004

Blair holds key as EU opens door to Turkey

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is on course to take charge of historic negotiations designed to pave the way for Turkish membership of the European Union after European leaders on Thursday night gave the green light to accession talks.

In one of the most significant moments in EU history, Turkey was invited to start accession talks on October 3 next year.

The move, in response to a request from the French to delay the start of the negotiations, was welcomed by the United Kingdom, which will have assumed the presidency of the EU by then. Barring a general election upset, Blair will spearhead the talks.

”The EU has opened its door to Turkey,” said Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, adding that the decision ”takes into account the legitimate preoccupations of Turkey and the preoccupations of European members states. It shows the end goal: membership. It sets a date for the start of talks.”

All eyes will on Friday turn to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, who threatened to pull the plug on EU relations if unduly harsh conditions are imposed on him. Britain hopes that he will declare ”victory” on Friday after winning a firm start date for accession talks that will come 42 years after Turkey signed its first ”association agreement” with the then EU.

Yet the first response from the Turks on Thursday night was cool. A government spokesperson said: ”The October 3 start date is just a detail. It is something less important than the other things.”

These refer to the two key conditions causing nervousness in the Turkish camp. They are:

  • Leaving open the possibility that the talks may end in something less than membership of the EU. Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch Prime Minister who chaired Thursday night’s talks, made it clear that France and Germany had been granted this key concession when he said Turkey may be merely offered the chance to be ”anchored in the European structures” if the talks falter.
  • ”We discussed the issue of the open-ended characteristic of negotiations,” he said at a late-night press conference in Brussels. ”What is the goal? The goal is accession. But there is not a guarantee of the outcome.”

  • Denying Turkish workers the right to settle in other EU countries. In another concession to France and Germany, it is understood that ”permanent safeguards” in this area are likely to be included in the agreement. Turkey will be angry about this because most EU countries, excluding Britain, imposed restrictions on this year’s entrants to the union that will last no longer than seven years.
  • Erdogan held talks lasting into the early hours with Balkenende. But Erdogan made it clear that he is prepared to walk away from the talks if he believes the conditions are unfair.

    He said on Thursday night: ”The outcome could be positive or negative. If we are given unacceptable terms, this will not be the end of the world.”

    Asked what he would do if the conditions were unacceptable, he added: ”We would put the whole business on ice and continue on our own path.”

    Erdogan indicated that he is prepared to make a historic gesture towards Cyprus 30 years after Turkish troops invaded the island.

    ”It will be resolved tomorrow [Friday],” he said after talks with the Greek Prime Minister, Costas Caramanlis.

    It is understood that Ankara is prepared to sign a customs union with all 25 members of the EU, including Greek Cyprus.

    The Greek Cypriots insist that signing a customs union with the EU will amount to formal recognition of its side of the island. It is understood that Britain is telling Erdogan he can save face on this by insisting that he is merely signing a trade agreement. — Guardian Unlimited Â