European Parliament rebuffs Turkey's NATO-EU trade-off

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s attempt to trade Sweden’s NATO bid for Turkey’s European Union membership was rebuffed by the European Parliament (EP) Tuesday, with a new report underlining that the two processes were unrelated. The European deputies called on the EU to start a reflection process to find an “alternative and realistic framework” in substitution for Turkey’s EU accession process. 

The EP report urged Turkey “to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership in the Turkish Grand National Assembly as early as possible,” saying that delaying it would only play into Russia’s hands. EP members acknowledged measures taken by the Turkish authorities to prevent the re-exportation to Russia of goods covered by EU sanctions, but it urged them to go further to ensure that Turkey “stops being a hub for entities and individuals that wish to circumvent such sanctions.” 

A press release on Tuesday from the EP Foreign Affairs Committee said EP members underlined that the NATO accession process of one country cannot be linked to the EU accession process of another. A parliamentary source told Al-Monitor that this was a new amendment to the report, implying that the wording came after Erdogan made the linkage between Sweden’s NATO bid and Turkey’s long-standing bid for EU membership.

“We have recently seen a renewed interest from the Turkish government in reviving the EU accession process. This will not happen as a result of geopolitical bargaining, but when Turkish authorities show real interest in stopping the continuous backsliding in fundamental freedoms and the rule of law,” the EP’s Turkey rapporteur, Nacho Sanchez Amor, said after his report was accepted 47 in favor, none against, and 10 abstentions in the EP Foreign Affairs Committee. It will come before the general assembly in the fall.