EU enlargement is a geostrategic issue: Turkish FM Fidan

Foreign ministers of Latvia and Sweden have called for closer political dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Türkiye on areas of common interest.

They made the comments to Anadolu on Friday during an informal ministerial gathering in Berlin, where top officials discussed the EU’s future, reforms and the enlargement process.

Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins said his country is supporting closer ties with Türkiye.

“Türkiye is already a very valued NATO ally and the cooperation with Türkiye is very crucial. It’s a very good and strong ally,” he said.

Karins said Türkiye’s progress towards EU membership is in the interest of both sides.

“Certainly, if Türkiye enacts all of the reforms, I think this would be very good for Türkiye itself, and of course for the EU,” he said.

EU heavyweight Germany hosted the ministerial conference on Thursday, which brought together foreign ministers and senior diplomats from both EU member states and candidate countries.

In her opening speech, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock underlined that the EU needs to reform itself and speed up the enlargement process to become a strong global actor.

Reviving EU-Türkiye dialogue

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also participated in the conference, emphasising that it is important the EU has started to see enlargement as a geostrategic issue.

He reaffirmed Türkiye’s EU membership goal and also said Ankara would like to contribute in a constructive way to the current discussions about reforming the bloc and speeding up its enlargement.

Latvian Foreign Minister Karins welcomed Fidan’s participation and said meetings with his Turkish counterpart more often in informal EU gatherings would be a positive development.

“All the formats in the EU that we have, where there are invited friends and partners, are actually good meetings,” he said, adding that such informal meetings offer a platform for frank exchanges and discussions.

“The opportunity that we can speak to each other, just to understand one another better and to look for ways how we can more strongly cooperate. Because the world is unfortunately not becoming any safer or more secure, it seems to be going right now a little bit in the opposite direction.”

Türkiye applied for EU membership in 1987, entered into a Customs Union in 1995, and its accession negotiations began in 2005 .

However, the process for full membership has stalled for more than a decade due to political roadblocks by certain EU members, such as Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration.

Closer political dialogue

Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said his country is supporting closer political dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Türkiye.

“In Vilnius, Sweden signed a statement together with Türkiye and NATO, saying that we were to act positively on behalf of Türkiye, and we are going to do so,” he told Anadolu.

Billstrom said the EU and Türkiye are already closely cooperating in a number of important areas, and they want to further enhance political and economic ties for the benefit of both sides.

“There are many instances, both when it comes to security but also when it comes to migration, and also when it comes to trade, where we have this relationship,” he said, adding that there are several areas where they can focus now to boost cooperation.

He particularly mentioned the expectations on modernising the EU-Türkiye customs union and visa-free travel for Turkish citizens.

“Two items I really would like to highlight, which are also mentioned in the statement from Vilnius, is, of course, both the question of visa liberalisation and also the question of customs issues. About these, Swedes are positive towards the development between the EU and Türkiye,” he said.

On Türkiye’s stalled EU membership talks, Billstrom said Sweden supports this process, but much will depend on Ankara’s progress in meeting the political and economic criteria for full membership.

“This is, of course, a merit-based process. It’s always a relationship where the country who wants to become a candidate, who wants to join the EU, has to fulfil certain criteria. But we are very positive as Sweden, when it comes to such a development,” he said.