Austria’s Chancellor Christian Kern on Wednesday called on the European Union to end membership talks with Turkey in the wake of a massive government crackdown following a failed coup.
Turkey’s longstanding, and recently revived, bid to join the EU has already been hit by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s suggestion that he may reintroduce the death penalty in the wake of the attempted putsch on 15 July – a move which would instantly disqualify it from joining the bloc.
“We have to face reality: the membership negotiations are currently no more than fiction,” Kern told Austrian media.
“We know that Turkey’s democratic standards are far from sufficient to justify its accession.” Kern told public broadcaster ORF that he wants to “start a discussion” at the European Council summit on 16 September, and “ask for a different concept”.
The chancellor said Turkey’s economy also remained far below the EU average and well short of membership requirements.
Making Ankara a part of the EU’s single market would spark “massive economic upheaval” in a bloc already struggling to cope with its enlargement toward eastern and central Europe, he warned.