Türkiye talk with Markus Lanz
Weber: “EU membership will not exist”
By Marko Schlichting
5/31/2023 3:36 am
The chairman of the EPP, Manfred Weber, is in favor of suspending the accession negotiations between the European Union and Turkey. However, there should be close economic cooperation, he says on the ZDF talk show Markus Lanz. But there is headwind.
The chairman of the conservative EPP in the EU Parliament, Manfred Weber, would like to end the accession negotiations with Turkey. The CSU politician is demanding this after Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected as Turkish President. In the ZDF talk show Markus Lanz he restricts that this step should apply at least for the next ten or twenty years. The election result for Erdogan is also democratic in view of the high turnout, says Weber at Lanz.
“I see that Turkey is an important partner,” says Weber. Turkey and the EU have important common interests in economic issues such as maintaining shared prosperity. In addition, Cyprus had to be talked about, a country that was still divided. The migration issue is also an important issue on which the EU and Turkey need to work together. “I’m just firmly of the opinion that the decades in which we have been chasing after the mirage of full membership have alienated us in these times,” said Weber.
For the EPP politician, the European Union is not a free trade area to do business with. “But if you see the EU as the defender of our way of life, so that we can play a role in tomorrow’s world, then I think: if I take to the streets in Hamburg or Munich today and ask people whether, for example, the Kurdish region belongs to Europe, then they will demand cooperation and partnership with the Kurds, but they will also say that just before the Iraqi border, there is no longer Europe.” Weber wants close cooperation with Turkey, including under Erdogan. But he says clearly: “There will be no EU membership for Turkey.”
“It’s about the people”
Former VW boss Herbert Diess sees it differently. The Wolfsburg company had planned to build a manufacturing plant in Manisa on Turkey’s west coast. It was primarily intended to produce the Passat and Superb models. But then the VW group withdrew from the project. The reason was the aggressive foreign policy of the Turkish president, it said. The Turkish President reacted with a cold and had all recently purchased VW Passats and all Audi vehicles removed from his government fleet.
Herbert Diess was CEO of VW AG and Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of Škoda, Seat and Audi until August 2022. He too acknowledges that Erdogan was elected by the majority of the population. “We have to accept that this is not the European attitude,” said the entrepreneur. For him, Turkey is a European country: “Istanbul, for example, is a European metropolis. I take a critical view of the fact that our policy excludes Turkey’s accession to the EU. That will not help Turkey to turn to the West says Diess.
Weber parried: “Then I can also say that Tel Aviv is a European city. Should Israel become part of the European Union?” But Diess calls for Turkey to be brought closer to Europe again. “You can’t leave it to the Orient.” This isn’t about politicians, it’s about the people. “Turkey could be part of Europe and become much more European.”
“We must move forward”
“Showing respect for Turkey is fundamental,” says Weber. “We have to define common interests, work on them and move forward.” But the question of full membership is toxic for both sides and always hovers over the negotiations.
For Weber it is also important that the EU must also put pressure on the Turkish President in an emergency. “Turkey is a NATO member and I expect the Turkish government to now give the green light for Sweden to join NATO. Otherwise there will be fundamental questions, including in economic cooperation. We are still extremely important for Turkey, and sometimes we should show that too. I don’t want to threaten, but I want to make it clear: we are damn strong as the European Union!”