AUSTRIA: Turkey is not ready to join the EU, Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer says

Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer say Turkey is not ready to join the European Union, citing human rights concerns. Turkey is not ready to join the European Union because of its human rights record and hopes for a quick accession to the bloc should not be encouraged, Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said on Thursday (April 12). Turkey launched talks to join the bloc in 2005, but the bid by the relatively poor, predominantly Muslim country has met resistance from some members, including Austria. "As long as Turkish citizens are asking for asylum in Austria and as long as the Austrian authorities deem the reasons on which such requests are based are so strong that asylum will actually be granted, it will be impossible for Turkey to join," Gusenbauer told Reuters in an interview. "I simply could not imagine a European Union where you have circumstances in one country which could be seen as the basis of an asylum request in another EU country," he said. Turkey's bid advanced a step in March when it opened talks with Brussels on enterprises and industry -- yet this is only the second of 35 chapters to be completed before accession. The EU suspended talks in December in eight chapters due to Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to traffic from Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognise. Gusenbauer, a Social Democrat sworn in in January as head of a wide coalition government, welcomed reforms in Turkey and said negotiations should not slow down, but he was sceptical if becoming a full member was the only option. The EU should not fuel Ankara's hopes for a quick accession given that the bloc was unable soon to absorb new members and its financial means were exhausted, he added. "The basic premise of the European Union is the universality of human rights without any restrictions, so, while I do welcome the reform process in Turkey, we also have to make it clear that some steps still have to be taken," he said. "My opinion is Turkey is currently not ready for the EU and the EU is not ready for Turkey," Gusenbauer said. Speaking about the Nabucco gas pipeline, designed to bring Caspian gas to Europe, Gusenbauer said Russian determination to push ahead with its Blue Stream pipeline made it imperative that countries in the Nabucco consortium now showed unreserved support for their project. "Russia is ready to invest, there is no doubt about that, and they also have the means to invest, and all of the parties involved have to realise that the time to play games is over," Gusenbauer said. Moscow wants to extend the rival Blue Stream project, backed by Russian energy giant Gazprom through the Balkans to Hungary. Russia's determination to push ahead with its plans may have helped strengthen support for Nabucco, which is backed by the European Union, Gusenbauer said. "If we are talking about European energy security as a common European concern -- if we presume that a constitutional contract would include an EU energy competence -- then this also means that there is a legitimate claim that the European Union should pitch in financially in such projects," he said. Austrian state-controlled oil and gas group OMV leads the Nabucco consortium, which includes companies from the transit countries: Hungary's MOL, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Romania's Transgaz, and Turkey's state-owned Botas. The 3,300 kilometre (2,050 mile), 4.6 billion euro (6.2 billion U.S. dollar) pipeline intended to make Europe more independent from Russian gas has been slammed for continued delays and the lack of a convincing timetable for when it will start to pump gas.

ITN Source | April 14, 2007

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