German parties won’t rule out Turkey’s EU bid

As the coalition negotiations for the next government heat up in Germany, a tiny conservative party’s bid to insert an article in the new agreement expressing opposition to Turkey's EU aspirations has faced objection from business-friendly partners.

Merkel’s conservative camp and the Free Democrats, or FDP, have agreed not to rule out Turkish membership in the European Union in their coalition agreement, sources from both camps said Thursday.

The sources said the deal between the parties was likely to contain language similar to that included in Merkel's 2005 coalition agreement with the Social Democrats, or SPD, Der Spiegel, Germany’s weekly magazine, reported.

“If the EU is not in a position to take on new members or Turkey cannot fully meet all the criteria necessary for membership, Turkey must be bound closely to European structures in a way that allows its privileged relationship with the EU to develop further,” the parties said in the document.

The EU unanimously agreed to open official accession talks with Turkey in 2005, shortly before Merkel took office. Her conservative bloc opposes the bid and she has said repeatedly that Ankara should be offered a “privileged partnership” that stops short of full membership.

Turkey has long rejected this notion, saying its ultimate goal is to become a full member in the 27-member club. The previous German government – called the Grand Coalition – had been openly sympathetic to Turkey’s EU bid due to the participation of the Social Democrat Party, or SPD.

Conflicting remarks:

Meanwhile, the deal between the center-right parties that won a parliamentary majority in last month's German election represents a defeat for Merkel's Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union, or CSU, the staunchest opponents of the Turkish bid. “For us it is clear: The new coalition agreement must state explicitly that full EU membership for Turkey cannot be approved,” CSU General Secretary Alexander Dobrindt told the Munich paper Münchner Merkur just before the compromise was reached.

Chairman of the Bundestag committee for foreign affairs from CDU, Ruprecht Polenz, defended the stance against the CSU and said, “In a coalition treaty, you cannot just walk away from a process that the previous administration has legally initiated – in this case the open ended negotiations with Turkey towards EU membership.”

The FDP, whose leader Guido Westerwelle is likely to take over as Germany's foreign minister, does not strictly oppose the bid, even if his party has cited "major deficits" in Turkey's efforts to meet EU criteria.

“The question [of Turkey’s accession] won’t be decided within the next four years, therefore we do not need to negotiate it at this point,” Westerwelle was quoted as saying by Die Zeit. Still, the CSU has pushed for stronger language in the coalition text, which will serve as a blueprint for the new government, expected to be in place by next month.