BRUSSELS: European Union (EU) Ministers for Foreign Affairs agreed on Thursday that the bloc should re-engage with Ankara, but also set several conditions and did not endorse Turkey’s calls to revive its moribund membership bid.
EU Ready to Re-engage with Ankara, But Sets Several Conditions
Ankara has been an official candidate to join the block for 24 years, but accession dialogues have been delayed since 2016 over the EU’s concerns regarding human rights violations.
But on July 10, President Erdogan, in a surprising move, called for a re-opening of Turkey’s accession dialogue, connecting the idea to Turkey’s approval of Sweden’s bid to join the NATO.
“We discussed how to re-engage with Ankara,” EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell said in a news conference in Brussels. Josep Borrell added that they were convinced there was a reciprocal interest to develop stronger ties between the EU and Turkey.
Read Also: EU Plans 20-billion-euro Ukraine Defence Fund
But the EU foreign policy chief noted the block wanted Turkey to show movement too, particularly on the matter of Cyprus. Borrell said, “Solving the issue of Cyprus in line with the relevant UN resolutions will be key in this re-engagement with Ankara,”.
Turkey expects solid progress from the European Union on issues such as visa-free travel, and closing some chapters in the EU accession process, a senior official of Turkey told Reuters, saying that the West needed to help Turkey in its financial needs.
