European Union (EU)’s legislative body the European Parliament (EP), supported by the major party groups, voted in favour of a resolution on 24 November 2016 to temporarily freeze accession negotiations with Turkey due to adversities related to human rights and the rule of law.

The EP’s vote on this resolution is its own initiative and is not binding upon on the EU.  The Parliament does not have the authority to freeze or suspend negotiations. As a matter of fact, in the resolution, the Commission and the Member States are called upon to freeze the negotiations.

The decision to suspend the negotiations should be made with a qualified majority vote representing 55% of the Member States and 65% of the total EU population; it can be clearly observed that, right now there is no such majority in the direction of freezing or suspending negotiations.

The resolution of the EP has importance as a symbolic and political message. It reflects the public opinion in the EU regarding the topic and is worrying in that respect.

The Parliamentarians who propose this resolution should know that:

In order to reverse the practices which they condemn in Turkey in a positive way, to set the conditions for the termination of state of emergency as soon as possible and maintain normalization it would be a more rational and effective practice to accelerate the negotiations process with Turkey rather than to stop it.

Turkey is passing through a difficult period, struggling with three different terrorist organizations and undergoing a violent war on its borders. It is of great importance that the EU supports and stands besides Turkey in this difficult period. If the EU wants to improve the developments in Turkey positively and consolidate the values of the EU, instead of freezing the negotiations, it should take necessary steps to speed up the accession process and adopt a comprehensive strategy to bring Turkey closer to the EU.

Ayhan Zeytinoğlu
IKV President