All the tools on the table for Turkey: EU official

The European Union is “ready to use all the tools at its disposal” to change Turkey’s behavior, the European Council President Charles Michel said in an interview with the Greek news website Kathimerini.

Michel, who has been in Athens since Thursday for the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of Greece’s accession to the European Community, stressed that he remains cautious regarding Ankara’s intentions.

Almost two months after his visit to Ankara and one month before Turkey is due to be discussed again at the European Council Summit on June 24-25, Michel said the EU has presented to Turkish authorities a strong, common position, prepared in close cooperation with 27 member-states, and especially Greece and Cyprus.

“We sent a clear message: We are ready for a more positive agenda, but our mood is conditional, it is proportionate and reversible,” he said, adding that this means that it will be realized only if there is progress in different fields – and especially in Greek-Turkish relations, the Cyprus issue and human rights.

“It will depend on Turkey’s behavior,” he said.

Asked if he could make an interim assessment on whether Turkish policy has been moving in the right direction since early April, Michel said he did not want to do so before the end of June, but noted that “in the past we have seen one step in the right direction and then two in the wrong direction.”

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