FINE GAEL has said it officially supports Turkish membership of the European Union notwithstanding opposition to the move expressed by one of its TDs this week.
The party’s spokesman on foreign affairs, Billy Timmins, yesterday said that views expressed by Lucinda Creighton rejecting Turkish accession to the union did not reflect party policy.
However, Ms Creighton said last night it was time to review party policy.
“Fine Gael policy is that we are in favour of Turkish accession as long as it meets certain requirements,” said Mr Timmins.
“A number are set out in the Ankara Protocol, including the use of ports in Cyprus. It has fulfilled some of them,” he said.
Mr Timmins pointed out that a motion supporting Turkish membership of the EU was approved by the Fine Gael ardfheis in 2004.
In a speech to a party meeting in her Dublin South East constituency earlier this week, Ms Creighton criticised comments by President Mary McAleese during her official visit to Turkey supporting its application for EU membership.
Ms Creighton described the argument for Turkish membership as “fundamentally flawed” and contended that Turkey was not wealthy enough to join the EU.
The union would have difficulty absorbing a country with a population of 72 million, she said, warning of a new wave of immigration to Ireland that would follow its accession.
Ms Creighton also asserted that, geographically, Turkey could not be considered part of Europe.
“By allowing Turkey accede to the European Union, the floodgates would be opened up to countries such as Morocco, who have as legitimate and credible a claim to EU membership as Turkey,” she said.
Fianna Fáil TD Michael Mulcahy also criticised Ms Creighton’s dismissal of Turkish aspiration to EU membership as “scaremongering”. He said Turkey had formalised commercial ties with the European Union.
“Deputy Creighton should remember that it has been long-standing Irish Government policy to support Turkish membership of the European Union, and her attempts to derail this worthwhile inclusion of Turkey by scaremongering on the issue of unemployment, is not appropriate.”
“Of course, there is a disparity in wealth between the European average and Turkey, but the Turkish economy is a very dynamic economy, set to grow by 10 per cent next year, and it is a sheer fallacy to believe that millions of Turkish people would descend on Ireland if Turkey was granted full membership of the European Union.
“There has not been a massive migration of workers from Bulgaria or Romania, both of whom have a much lower GDP per head than Ireland,” he said.
He also called on Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny to clarify if Ms Creighton’s views now represented the party’s official policy on the matter.