It is our honor to interview the Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, who made some brief statements for the evolution of the discussions.
In our first question “In what aspect of the topic of AFET would you emphasize for practical issues and why?” he answered that the most important is to expand the Customs Union and proceed to general trade agreements with Turkey. Especially, he noticed that despite the progress that may have been in discussions, there is still the need to add some categories of production, i.d. the addition of agricultural products, procurement services and the social prosperity. That means that an emphasize on the primary sector of the economy must be given because Turkish economy is primarily based on agriculture.
Moreover, when he was asked to make a comment about the Crisis which burst out on AFET Committee, he remarked that the only solution is the co-operation of all agents of the EU to form a common policy and action plan and after that all together should procced to further and substantial discussions and negotiations with Turkey.
As far as the wishing final draft is concerned, he noticed that AFET MEPs are in a good path to finding solutions, but he highlighted that Commission usually chooses a different way to tackle the issue and research for solutions.
Last but not least, in the question if there is the ability to change the legal framework of EU (which was a proposal by some AFET MEPs), he definitely refused it because he reminded us that the amendments on the treaties and the formation of a new treatment is really difficult and time-consuming. So, he assured us that neither the ECJ has that responsibility, so the only solution is the constitution of special committees with expert lawyers in order to examine the rules and the legal framework of the EU deeply.
By Marianthi Pelekanaki.
