The need to investigate one “alternative and realistic framework” on EU-Turkey relations, instead of continuing the “clinically dead” accession process, the European Parliament points out in the -critical- draft of its report on Turkey, which was discussed today Monday in the EP’s foreign affairs committee in Brussels.

The rapporteur of the report on Turkey, Nacho Sánchez Amor (Socialists, Spain), emphasized: “We see that a continuity is erased at the political level, as President Erdogan was re-elected and the first statements he made dthey don’t give the perspective that he really wants to bring about a rapprochement between the EU and Turkey. He says that from the EU side we are trying to blackmail Turkey in terms of visas, he accuses journalists from the opposition and in general continues his attacks against the LGBTI community”.

The Spanish rapporteur of the report underlined that already before the Turkish elections he had stated that the process of Turkey’s accession to the EU cannot continue, regardless of the outcome of the elections. “You should there will be radical changes in Turkey in order to continue the accession process”, said Nacho Sanchez Amor, while on the contrary he expressed the opinion that the continuation of a process that is not accompanied by the appropriate reforms, is “counterproductive”. For this reason, he emphasized that alternative EU-Turkey relations should be considered, but at the same time the EU expects the message from Turkey that there will be change, which should be seen through concrete political actions.

For his part, Georg Vlad Nistor (Romania, EPP), emphasized that Turkey is an important partner for the EU, not only economically, but also an important NATO partner for almost all EU member states and is even more important in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He emphasized that none of the EU’s recommendations to Turkey have been implemented in recent years, on the contrary, the EU systematically receives contradictory messages. He added that a significant percentage of the Turkish population is pro-European and wants rapprochement with the EU, which should be taken into account.

From the Liberals, Dutch MEP Malik Azmani pointed out that Erdogan used his victory speech to target LGBTQI people, which is unacceptable and goes against the rule of law. He also noted that in Turkey there are disinformation campaigns, on the basis of which several Turkish citizens end up in prison. On the other hand, he added that in matters of security, immigration and trade, it is not possible for the EU to part ways with Turkey. “Let’s not get bogged down in endless talks about accession, and let’s see what we can do with the association agreement and with trade,” he said. He added, finally, that the EU expects Turkey to see clear and not ambiguous positions regarding Russia.