Luxembourg Foreign Minister for Turkey: It is unacceptable for a NATO member country to threaten another member

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, Jan Asselborn, in an exclusive interview with APE-MPE and Maria Aroni, talks about the war in Ukraine, Turkey’s attitude, the immigration issue and the Western Balkans.

The veteran foreign minister, for almost twenty years, emphasizes that at the moment, he does not see any willingness on the Russian side to participate in good faith in the talks with Ukraine, while regarding Turkey, among other things, he expresses regret of not aligning with Western sanctions against Russia.

He also emphasizes that it is unacceptable for a NATO member country to threaten another member. As for the discussions on the new migration and asylum pact, he finds it scandalous that after seven years they are still not concluded.

The following is the full interview of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg with APE-MPE:

The war in Ukraine is now seriously testing the most basic principles and the very foundations of the EU. How do you see the sequel? Is there any glimmer of hope for an end to hostilities soon?

With the coming of winter, the intensity of the fighting will obviously decrease. Of course, this will not mean the end of military operations. On the other hand, citizens will suffer more from the winter season. Over the past two months, Russia has been targeting civilian and energy infrastructure, causing even more suffering to the Ukrainian people. The systematic bombing campaign against political targets and energy infrastructure is a crime that we strongly condemn. The humanitarian situation could worsen. Therefore, the EU will accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid. As for a possible end to hostilities, it is difficult to predict. At the moment, I really don’t see any willingness on the Russian side to participate in good faith in the talks with Ukraine. We hope that the new sanctions will increase the pressure on Russia to end its war of aggression.

What will tomorrow be like for all of us? Do you think that in the long term the question of a common European security architecture will arise and that in this context guarantees will need to be given to Russia in order to find a good balance?

Security guarantees in Russia? But that would be the reversal of reality! Since World War II no European state has attacked Russia. Russia was never in danger. It looked for pretexts to maintain its influence in the former territories of the USSR. It is clear in hindsight that the Russian proposals for European security in late 2021 were only intended to distract us while Russia’s military planning entered its final phase. On the contrary, the countries that need security guarantees are those that have suffered military attack, direct or indirect, from Russia in the last fifteen years: Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova.

Western countries, the EU and others, have adopted a series of measures and sanctions to force Russia to stop this illegal war. Of course, the sanctions have a serious impact on the European countries themselves. What do you have to say about countries that, like Turkey, systematically violate the embargo that has been imposed, thus facilitating Russia, but also reaping great benefits for themselves?

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been condemned by Turkey. The country has tried to facilitate talks between Ukraine and Russia and work to establish a ceasefire. He also undertook a diplomatic initiative to facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain. This agreement would not have been possible without Turkey’s constructive role. We must therefore welcome all the efforts made to keep the agreement alive. In addition, Turkey has implemented the Montreux Convention, as it should, to prevent Russian warships from entering the Black Sea through the Turkish Straits. On the other hand, Europe is very aware of the fact that Turkey has chosen not to align with the sanctions regime against Russia, which I deeply regret. This raises a number of questions for a country that continues to want to eventually join the EU. This misalignment is a risk to the EU’s restrictive measures and we should continue to engage with Turkey on this issue, including through new international special envoy appointed by the European Commission for the implementation of EU sanctions.

At a time when Europe and NATO are rightly focused on Ukraine and the unprovoked war caused by Putin’s authoritarian regime, another authoritarian leader, Turkey’s President Erdogan, is openly threatening an EU member state and of NATO with corresponding military actions. How compatible is this behavior of Turkey, being a candidate country for the EU and also a member of NATO?

EU accession negotiations with Turkey are deadlocked and further setbacks are seen on issues related to the rule of law, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Therefore, we are faced with a substantial gap between, on the one hand, Turkey’s ambitions for EU membership and, on the other hand, a foreign policy that is in many respects contrary to the EU’s priorities.

As far as NATO is concerned, it is unacceptable for one member of the alliance to threaten another. That said, NATO is more united than ever in the face of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. Furthermore, NATO expects Turkey to ratify the accession agreements of Sweden and Finland as soon as possible in 2023.

When it comes to immigration, EU countries agree on the fundamental principles of the Pact on Migration and Asylum. How could this help first entry countries like Greece and others to deal with the challenge of mass immigration?

We have been negotiating for almost seven years a reform of the European immigration policy. A European policy in this area can only work on the basis of a fair sharing of burdens. The real scandal is that we still haven’t come to an agreement all these years. The immigration debate is toxic and unfortunately considerations of domestic politics continue to prevail. So for seven years, we’ve essentially been going in circles to determine a balance between responsibility and solidarity. Instead of focusing on the overall European interest, i.e. everyone’s interest, many political leaders see fit to focus on their national issues. And when one examines the immigration pressure figures carefully, it turns out that we are almost all affected to the same extent, whether in Greece, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands or Luxembourg. However, only the Asylum and Migration Pact can finally provide an answer to the problems of all of us.

In all this lost time, we have indeed had to deal with several crises, whether with Belarus, Turkey or Morocco. The EU has always helped the countries that bear the biggest burden. For example, the situation with Turkey has improved with the EU-Turkey statement and the Commission has just released another tranche of 1.2 billion to restart this cooperation. Greece has also received significant financial aid to modernize its reception infrastructure and asylum system. I will never forget the images of anguish on the Greek islands that I saw in 2015 and something like this should never happen again. With the same satisfaction I experienced European solidarity after the destruction of Moria. There is still the issue of the integration of immigrants and the right solutions can prove to be beneficial both for the beneficiaries of international protection and for Greek society. In Luxembourg we have similar challenges and I try to turn them into a success for everyone. A situation that will benefit both the people we welcome and the society that welcomes them.

The Western Balkans region appears to have once again entered a period of turmoil and insecurity. Do you think Russia’s war in Ukraine is forcing the EU to speed up their accession process?

The war in Ukraine has indeed given new impetus to the EU enlargement process. In any case, 2022 has been an important year in terms of progress made. The EU remains the region’s closest partner, main investor, main trading partner and main donor. The EU recently confirmed the granting of candidate country status to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The EU has also decided to grant visa-free status to citizens of Kosovo. There has also been an alignment of Serbia’s visa policy, which is a step in the right direction. In addition, in July 2022, the first intergovernmental conference for Albania and North Macedonia took place, thus starting the process of opening accession negotiations. Finally, there were the historic decisions of 23 June 2022, when Ukraine and Moldova were granted EU candidate status pending the rapid implementation of a series of reforms.

And at the first meeting of the leaders of the EU and their Western Balkan counterparts, in Tirana on December 6, additional steps were taken on the way to their European integration, especially regarding the approximation of our internal market.

Therefore, it is important to stress that the pace of the EU accession process is solely determined by the candidate countries and their ability and political will to implement the necessary reforms. Our criteria are the same for all candidate countries and are based on full transposition of the EU acquis and full alignment with our values ​​and policies. Ultimately, the citizens of candidate countries should understand that their governments are responsible. Luxembourg will continue its support, but it is up to these countries to act decisively in order to remain credible as EU candidates. Therefore, our support for the Tirana Summit does not mean a relaxation of criteria. Instead, the EU should be more demanding in areas such as the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, the fight against corruption and organized crime.

RES-EMP

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