EU struggles to agree strategy on Turkey in face of Greek threats

Date: 12/11/1998

By Simon Taylor

EU GOVERNMENTS face a difficult challenge in the months ahead in trying to improve relations with Turkey while overcoming Greek opposition to any move to foster closer ties.

While most member states support European Commission plans to provide up to 150 million ecu in aid to Ankara, Athens has threatened to challenge the scheme in the European Court of Justice. "This contravenes the basic principle of solidarity and goes against the express national interest of one member state," said one Greek diplomat.

Tensions over the Union's approach to Turkey have also emerged within the Commission. Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek is reported to have firmly rebuffed his Greek colleague Christos Papoutsis when he called for the institution's report on Turkey to underline once again the extra conditions on human rights and respect for minorities which Ankara has to fulfil before it can be considered as a candidate for EU membership.

Despite the unanimous agreement between Union governments at the June Cardiff summit to include a report on Turkey's progress towards meeting the criteria for EU entry with those on the other candidates, the move to treat Ankara in the same way has provoked an angry response from Athens.

"We do not regard Turkey as a candidate state because it does not meet the other criteria," said one Greek official.

Publicly, Athens argues that Ankara should not be given any help to prepare itself for EU membership because of its track record on human rights. However, its real objection to the funding stems from the bitter dispute between Greece and Turkey over the divided island of Cyprus.

The threat of military confrontation between Ankara and Nicosia has subsided in the wake of the United Nations' decision to appoint New Zealander Ann Hercus as special representative in the region.

Greek Cypriot President Glafkos Clerides has said that he will delay plans to station S-300 surface-to-air missiles on the island, giving Hercus extra time to broker a deal on security matters.

But it is the issue of funding to help Turkey prepare for eventual EU membership, known as the European Strategy, which poses the trickiest institutional problem for EU governments, given Athens' warning that it will challenge the Commission's decision to treat Turkey as a developing country in order to make it eligible for 135 million ecu of aid.

"You cannot bend the rules to accommodate a country. It's an issue of principle and it will have negative effects for the Community," said one Greek diplomat.

Commission officials claim Athens has very little hope of winning its Court challenge. "You cannot take a legal proposal before the European Court of Justice until it is a formal act. It is the Council of Ministers which legislates," said one.

The main objective of the Commission's proposal to provide the funding under a programme which can be approved by qualified majority vote, thereby depriving Greece of the chance to veto it, is to throw the onus back on EU governments to try to settle the issue.

The Commission hopes that European foreign ministers will remind their Greek counterpart Theodoros Pangalos of his government's support for the deal struck at Cardiff, under which EU leaders agreed to help Ankara bring its legislation into line with Union laws through funding as well as technical assistance.

Attempts to reach a deal on resources for the European Strategy will be made more difficult by the intensifying debate within the EU over whether Cyprus can be allowed to join the Union while its status remains unresolved. Four member states have now lined up against Greece, which argues that granting the divided island EU membership could itself help to produce a solution.

Yet while most EU governments support the Commission's proposals for additional aid to Turkey, they are also calling for a cautious approach towards relations with Ankara, arguing that it should not be given an effective veto over Cyprus' accession to the Union.

Analysts say that if Greece's approach to Turkey is intended to increase its own security in the region, it would do better to draw Ankara deeper into the legal and diplomatic structures of the EU and wean it off the habit of settling political disputes by resorting to military threats.

But such an approach stands little chance of winning public support in Greece. "Turkey is not the victim. You should not recognise the victimiser and penalise the victim," said one diplomat.