DutchNews, October 20, 2017
Photo: Maarten Hartman |
Some EU leaders want to give less financial support to Turkey in preparation
for possible EU membership because of concerns about human rights violations,
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has said.
Rutte told the media that this was
the subject of the first day of meetings of the 28 EU leaders in Brussels.
According to NOS broadcaster, he said on Thursday night that subsidies
currently given to the Turkish government would be better off diverted to human
rights organisations.
The proposal to stop pre-accession funding comes from
German chancellor Angela Merkel, who criticised the ‘absolutely unsatisfying
human rights situation in Turkey’ but said she did not want to ‘break bridges’
or have a showdown with the NATO country.
Rutte said that accession negotiations
with Turkey are at a standstill. ‘They are comatose, and that will not change,’
he said. But he added that there is no consensus among EU leaders for a Dutch
proposal to shut down funding to the country completely.
Brexit is also on the
agenda for the European leaders.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.