Madam President, Commissioner, Mr Representative of the Council, it is clear that today’s debate on EU-Turkey relations is a limbering up for the negotiations to be held at the Summit meeting in Helsinki at the end of the year. The direction these negotiations will take has not yet been specified. During the last round of talks, the Finnish President of the Council, Prime Minister Lipponen, stated in Athens that he did not yet feel ready to make specific recommendations. Also in Athens, Chancellor Schreider, following his meeting with the Greek Prime Minister, Mr Simitis, stated that he thought it would be a mistake in a public debate and at a press conference to mention the conditions that Turkey must meet in order to be considered a candidate country. I believe, this suggests Madam President, that Turkey must meet certain conditions before it can be considered a candidate country. Public debate is certainly the biggest flaw of democracy. Governments can negotiate behind-the-scenes but Parliament cannot have this luxury of silence. I believe that we all, or at least most of us, agree on certain basic issues. We want Turkey to have a positive European vocation. We want Turkey to be given generous humanitarian aid for the earthquake tragedy. Finally, we all, or at least most of us, know that, in Turkey, individual freedoms, freedom of the press, the prison service and methods of police interrogation bear no correlation with democracy or with European culture. I cannot forget the comment of the Prime Minister of Luxembourg during the Luxembourg Presidency when he declared, quite justifiably, that Europe cannot sit at the table with torturers. Madam President, the anachronism of the regime was demonstrated by the sacrifice of the Turkish people themselves in terms of human lives during the earthquakes. This could not have happened in a country with a fully functioning legal system, democratic control and freedom of the press. I consider very optimistic the remarks of the Commissioner that, by the time the Helsinki Summit comes around, Turkey will have fulfilled the criteria laid down by the Copenhagen Council to become a candidate country. The Greek people showed their heartfelt sentiments towards the Turkish people during the earthquake tragedy and I believe that the Turkish people also have heartfelt sentiments towards the Greek people. The Greek Government has stated that it is prepared to accept the progress made by Turkey towards candidate status provided that Turkey can show some signs it intends to fundamentally change its attitude. Turkey has shown no signs of this. It still persists with the partition and military occupation of Cyprus. It still persists with its threats of war against Greece if Greece should enforce the international law on territorial waters. As long as Turkey persists with these, it will not be possible. What has been said here about Mr Papandreou acknowledging that Turkey has made progress on the Cyprus issue is totally wrong. I can assure you that Mr Papandreou made no such statement. It is not right that such statements can be distorted just to impress. If Turkey does show signs of progress, then of course we will welcome it with open arms, but it must show some signs. The ball, Commissioner, is in Turkey’s court and the next move must come from them. Europe has given it sufficient encouragement yet we have not seen, on an official level, and not from the Turkish people who are also suffering under the regime imposed on them, the response Europe needs to proceed to the next phase. We would need to have the necessary response and then, of course, we can proceed with the issue of Turkish candidature.

Political group: PSE