During the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels (08-10 July 2020),MEPs debate the stability and security in Eastern Mediterranean and the negative role of Turkey. Debate with Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World. Statements by Nacho SÁNCHEZ AMOR (S&D, ES), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group leader, Nacho SÁNCHEZ AMOR (S&D, ES), Hilde VAUTMANS (RE, BE), Thierry MARIANI (ID, FR) and Tineke STRIK (Greens/EFA, NL).

Brussels

debate

plenary session

EU - Türkiye (T)

VAUTMANS, Hilde (Renew, BE)

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

Türkiye - Cyprus (T)

BORRELL FONTELLES, Josep (PSE, ES, EC)

MARIANI, Thierry (ID, FR)

SÁNCHEZ AMOR, Nacho (S&D, ES)

STRIK, Tineke (Greens/EFA, NL)

Stability and security in Eastern Mediterranean and the negative role of Turkey: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Last October, the council firmly condemned Turkey's military operation in northeast Syria. Yet we must also acknowledge where our interests coincide. Turkey has been showing solidarity and generosity towards more than 3.5 Million Syrian refugees and has supplied cross-border humanitarian assistance to those displaced with the recent brutal fight at Idlib, by the way I have to regret strongly the decision of the Security Council of not continuing to open the border between Turkey and Italy in order to bring humanitarian assistance.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC in charge of a stronger Europe in the World, Turkey is an important partner, a candidate country and a NATO ally. And the current negative trend in our relations, I told a couple of days ago in Ankara to our Turkish colleagues, to the foreign affairs minister and defense minister, the current negative trend in our relations needs to be stopped and reversed. The dynamics of retaliation does not make the Mediterranean a more secure and a stable zone. This will only be achieved through dialog and negotiations where discrepancies exist and they are. This is what they've been discussing with Turkish colleague on my last trip.

SOUNDBITE (German), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group leader, The message that we have for Mr. ERDOGAN is that the European Union is prepared to enter into partnership, but also prepared to revive existing partnerships. But that requires a cooperative partner. The customs union with the E.U. is of existential importance to Turkey.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Nacho S&#193;NCHEZ AMOR (S&amp;D, ES), And we have seen that things have been frozen because of human rights violations. And then when it comes to the visa facility, we have to keep in mind that things need to be complied with for that to be able to make progress when it comes to the WTO. Of course, there are issues related to that as well. And when the European Union requests one thing and the opposite happens, we have to also look at the sort of disaster that is taking place. And perhaps the wording assertiveness is not used well.

SOUNDBITE (English), Hilde VAUTMANS (RE, BE), Well, Turkey's accession it's a joke. Yes, Turkey is a strategic partner both for Europe and NATO. It's a neighbor. And I do believe in the necessity of a strong partnership. But Turkey continues to move further away from the EU. This parliament has been clear about its position. This authoritarian Turkey can not join the EU.

SOUNDBITE (French), Thierry MARIANI (ID, FR), In Libya, we are making exactly the same mistakes as we did in Syria. We're looking with a benevolent eye on the militia, which are paid by the Turks. But only a few days ago, we saw an incident which almost appeared to be an act of war between the French, France and Turkey in the maritime area. And nobody said anything about this. So how much longer, high representative, are we going to put up with this and go ahead with this illusory process of accession of Turkey to the European Union, a country that does not share any of our values or projects?

SOUNDBITE (English), Tineke STRIK (Greens/EFA, NL), I agree with Mr. Borrell that despite the bad track record of Turkey, we share common interest and the neighboring country is key to us. We cannot simply remain in a deadlock and do as if we do not need to cooperate or narrow it down to the cooperation of the EU-Turkey statement So I support his approach to rethink the strategy, but not only for security reasons, but also to promote human rights.