[Taken from Reuters by Mark John]
"BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU foreign ministers met on Monday for crucial talks on how to penalize Turkey for failing to normalize trade with Cyprus at the start of a week that could derail Ankara's troubled entry negotiations with the bloc.
EU capitals are split between those who would shed no tears if talks with the large, mainly Muslim nation collapsed, and others who say Europe must embrace a strategic partner to bridge the Western and Islamic worlds and secure a future energy hub.
Even before the meeting started, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said positions were too far apart for agreement to be reached on Monday, raising the specter of a crisis summit of the 25-nation bloc on Turkey from Thursday.
But he told German ARD television: "I am very confident that there will be an agreement at the end of this week."(...)"
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2 comments:
I think, once and for all UE leaders should decide whether or not they want Turkey in the UE. This process has taken to much time and had too many mistakes. More than both pointing fingers and blaming each other they would do much better if both admit what they really want, both Turkey and the UE.
For me this process has shown that the entering of new countries in the Union isn’t a clear process. I think that the major reform to be made is to create a clearer process (Independent of the countries), with milestones that are easy to understand and to measure and therefore preventing what is happening now.
I believe this chaotic admission talks is nothing but a result of ambiguous politics. Without solving the Cyprus issue, Southern Cyprus was accepted as a member state and the Northern part was left out. Whatever you try to build on these sliding grounds, of course, nothing right will come out of it. Personally speaking, this is turning out to be a long and boring story.
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