Brussels: German Chancellor Angela Merkel
has led calls for a cut to EU funding linked to Turkey's
membership talks, to signal the bloc's unhappiness at Ankara's
crackdown in the wake of a failed coup.
In the latest round of a bitter spat between Berlin and
Ankara, the powerful German leader said yesterday it was
important the EU acted in unity to defend its values, at a
summit in Brussels.
Turkey, whose application to join the EU is effectively
frozen, has alarmed European leaders with its hardline
response to a thwarted bid to overthrow President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan last year.
More than 50,000 people have been arrested since the coup
bid, including several German citizens, drawing strong
criticism from Berlin.
"I'm going to work for EU pre-membership funding, which
we are giving, to be reduced," Merkel said, adding that for
her it was a "central demand" that the bloc acted together on
the issue.
"The changes to the rule of law in Turkey are going in
our opinion in a bad direction and we have some major concerns
-- and not just because a lot of Germans have been arrested."
Merkel caused a stir during her recent reelection
campaign with a pledge to try to get EU leaders to terminate
Turkey's membership bid.
Other EU nations have trod more carefully, noting
Turkey's vital importance to the bloc both in tackling the
migrant crisis and in fighting Islamist militancy.
But several voiced criticism of Turkey at yesterday's
meeting, with Belgian PM Charles Michel saying Ankara's
membership bid was "frozen, on the point of death".
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Turkey was "a long
way from membership and will remain so", but the two Low
Countries leaders called for "reorientating" funds rather than
cutting them.
Rutte said the aim would be "that the money moves away
from the government to go towards areas such as migration and
Turkish charities".
EU member states are waiting for a European Commission
assessment of funding for Turkey -- most of which already goes
to NGOs or projects -- in early 2018.
Europe plans 4.45 billion euros in pre-accession spending
for Turkey in 2014-2020, but only 360 million euros have been
allocated so far.
