The Diplomat
Socialist MEP Ignacio Sánchez Amor has asked the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, when the EU has delegated its relations with Turkey to Germany and France.
The Spanish MEP posted the question on his Twitter account, in which he expresses his “surprise” that “the EU has delegated its relations with Turkey to France and Germany” and adds, in an ironic tone, that he does not remember when the European Council took this decision. Furthermore, he stresses that, as has been learned, with Brexit, the best results come from a real union.
In the letter, Sánchez Amor points out that, according to information published in the press last Thursday, the 12th, the spokesman for the Turkish Presidency, Ibrahim Kalim, and the deputy foreign minister and director for European Union Affairs, Faruk Kaymakçi, were in contact in Istanbul with the main foreign policy advisors to the President of the European Council (Maryenm Van den Heuvel), the German Chancellor (Jan Hecker) and the French President (Emmanuel Bonne); and the head of the EU delegation to Turkey, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut. At the meeting, the MEP said, in-depth discussions were held on EU-Turkey relations and preparations were made for a forthcoming summit between Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan and European leaders.
Sánchez Amor asked the President of the European Council if he could inform MEPs when and how the EU’s relations with Turkey have been delegated to two specific Member States.
He also asks him if he can give reasons for the absence of the current Portuguese Presidency of the Council from these contacts.
A little over a month ago, in a video conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Erdogan expressed his desire to hold a summit with the European Union in an attempt to ease tensions with Brussels, after the EU-27 agreed to impose sanctions on Turkey if it does not resolve its disputes with Greece and Cyprus, both EU partners.
