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

October 16, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

Dirk Niebel, the general-secretary of Germany's FDP, FDP Chairman Guido Westerwelle (R) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) chat prior to sitting down coalition talks .

www.hurriyetdailynews.com

With preparations to form a coalition government are ongoing, German parties have agreed not to include an article ruling out Turkey’s EU accession bid. It is expected that the deal will contain language similar to that included in Merkel’s 2005 coalition agreement with the Social Democrats.

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. Read full article…