Vienna will oppose the opening of new negotiation chapters for the entry of Turkey into the European Union, particularly because of the scale of repression since the failed coup of July 15, announced head of the Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz.
“I say in the council (EU) Ministers of Foreign Affairs, where it will be decided whether a new chapter will be opened with Turkey. And I am opposed, “he said in an interview to be published Sunday in the daily Kurier. Decisions in this council must be taken unanimously.
This position is shared by the Social Democratic chancellor Christian Kern, who will try to turn to “convince other heads of state and government need to stop the accession negotiations with Turkey” at the European summit of 16 September, said the Conservative minister.
The relaunch of EU-Turkey accession negotiations, as the visa exemption for Turkish nationals, are the main counterparties demanded by Ankara to continue to block the flow of migrants to Europe, under the terms of an agreement concluded with the Twenty-Eight in March.
Skeptical for several months on the merits of the agreement extorted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austria has multiplied heated exchanges with Ankara in recent days, hardening day by day its position because of the scale of purges ordered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Wednesday, Mr Kern had urged the EU to stop the Turkish accession talks, but without openly brandish the threat of a veto of his country.
Kurz has in turn called repeatedly its European partners to organize flow management independently refugees from Turkey, so as not to “depend” of that State. “The house of cards of the failed migration policy in Europe is about to collapse,” said he warned Friday evening on Austrian TV.
The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, recently itself mentioned a risk “high” to see scupper agreement. He warned Thursday that a breakdown in negotiations would be a “serious foreign policy mistake.”
Vis-à-vis Turkey firmness been a broad consensus in the Austrian political class, both in the big left-right coalition that among the FPÖ and Green opposition parties, two months of a new presidential election.
Stéphane © armenews.com