Gesprekken met Turkije moeizaam door kwestie-Cyprus (en)

EUOBSERVER / LUXEMBOURG - Both Turkey and Croatia have opened and closed the first chapter of EU legislation as part of their long journey to join the bloc.

But while Zagreb passed to another stage almost without notice, Ankara has been reminded that even the smallest step towards the EU will spark difficulties unless it complies with its obligations towards Cyprus.

"Every long journey needs a first step," Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik said late Monday (12 June), at a press conference finalising the day's enlargement marathon.

The two candidate countries ticked off the first of 35 legislative chapters after the bloc's foreign ministers agreed on a common position towards the two EU-hopefuls.

Neither of the two states had any problem with the actual content of the chapter - dealing with science and research - but it still took them several months to reach a deal with the EU member states.

And, in the case of Turkey, an extra few days and long hours of last-minute wrangling at diplomatic and ministerial level, due to resilient opposition by Cyprus.

"Enlargement is no Eurostar or TGV," commented enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn i "but it is a sustainable and safe train and its quality is more important than its speed," he added, stressing that for the moment "this train remains on track."

Extending the metaphor, he raised hopes for Croats to see their train in the desired destination "by the end of this decade" but warned Turkey it must fulfil its Cyprus obligations to get anywhere further in its EU journey and avoid a possible "train crash."

Luxembourg déjà vu

Monday's meeting resembled a foreign ministers' session last October when the EU was struggling to agree details of its strategy for entry talks with Ankara.

Several journalists and diplomats said they felt a sense of "déjà vu" as Turkey's leader once again waited for the EU's green light before taking off and flying to Luxembourg to join the meeting.

Mr Rehn pointed out several times that the EU now expects Ankara to move first.

He revealed he would highlight three key areas of Brussels' serious concerns in the commission's report due in autumn: freedom of expression and religion - especially of non-Muslim population, plus a new escalation of violence in the south-eastern part of the country.

"There will be no real progress in negotiations if political reforms slow down or regress," said the enlargement commissioner.

Forget the past

However, the most critical remarks have been spelled out on the subject of Turkey's continued opposition to allow access to Greek Cypriot ships and planes and recognition of their government in Nikosia.

The Cypriot foreign minister, George Jacovou, said he expected the commission to highlight the so-called Ankara protocol on trade contacts with the enlarged bloc in its autumn report.

"Our tactics today were like building a house. Brick by brick we are trying to ensure the EU supports our view that Turkey cannot ignore its obligations towards Cyprus forever."

Nikosia wants to have the comment on Turkey's obligations to be repeated in any future negotiating documents and is lobbying for support from other member states.

But Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul warned it was "not realistic" for the EU to expect Ankara to make all the concession stressing that Brussels is also obliged to lift trade restrictions against Turkish northern Cyprus, a move so far also blocked by Nicosia.

Mr Rehn said the two issues - the EU's political commitment and Turkey's legal obligations - should not be linked, while urging both sides to "put less emphasis on past injustices and focus on future solutions."

Way ahead

The hard-fought negotiations at the very beginning of the negotiations prompted Slovak foreign minister Eduard Kukan to say "This very first stage showed what a different path Turkey and Croatia are facing towards the EU."

The next chapter on education and culture - also proposed to be opened and closed on the same day - will see no problems for Zagreb but a few benchmarks for Ankara.

According to diplomats, some member states, like the Netherlands, expressed their concerns in the area of girls' education or Kurdish inclusion in the country's culture policies.

For Croatia, the main worry remains the EU's enlargement blues and recent commission statements which go against the country's goal to join the bloc in 2009.

Olli Rehn said the target is "ambitious" but added if reforms go well, "the whole process" could be concluded by "the end of the decade" which for him means 2009, he explained.