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It took at least three versions and a long nightly discussion, but in the end EU leaders meeting in Brussels gave the green light to new sanctions against the Turkey to ‘punish’ him for the military escalation launched in the Mediterranean to seize a portion of gas fields in the economic waters of Cyprus and Greece. Brussels should now draw up the list of “Turkish personalities and entities” to which it will address and publish it around March. A measure that satisfies, but not too much, the tough front against Ankara, clearly led by Athens, but with the support of France behind them. Emmanuel macron. On the other hand, that embargo arms sale to Turkey that Greece has long been asking for. A request that, apparently, Germany, Italy and Spain have blocked in the bud.
Italian interests in Turkey
The economic and geopolitical reasons for Berlin and Rome for stopping this proposal are clear. Germany is Ankara’s main trading partner, and although it has greatly reduced its arms supplies to the Turkish army compared to a decade ago, there is still significant support for the construction of military ships (the same at the center of the escalation in the Mediterranean). Italy, for its part, has an exchange of goods with Turkey equivalent to about 15 billion, according to 2019 data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: We mainly export chemical and mechanical products (including non-recycled plastics), and import motor vehicles, food and textile products and metallurgical products. The arms market continues to play an important role in the export sector.
In spite of thecommitment taken by the minister Luigi di maio in October 2019 to suspend arms sales to Ankara for the bombings in Syria against the Kurds, the big names in the tricolor war industry continued to do good business with the Turkish government: only in the first 6 months of 2020, according to the Opal, were ammunition made in Italy sold for 60 million euros. Funds that are added to the armaments sold from 2013 to 2019 for a total of one billion. According to the latest report from the institute Sipri20% of the weapons sold by Italy to non-EU countries went to Turkey, by far the first buyer. But it is not only about the interests of our war industry or, more generally, of our economy: also the activism of President Recep Tayyp Erdogan in Libya pushes our Foreign Ministry to prefer carrots to sticks in the EU .
That is why Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, along with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, would have pressed for “a relatively soft line” on Turkey at the EU summit, as he writes. Jacopo Barigazzi its Politician. “Some diplomats have said that the EU has tried to find a balance with Ankara, a member of NATO and a key ally for migration, using both carrots and sticks to try to avoid escalation – he writes – This approach is reflected in the fact that the text, for example, does not contain an arms embargo requested by Greece and also that there is no immediate decision to impose more sanctions. “
What does the text of the conclusions say
In fact, the new sanctions will not arrive immediately, but in March. The leaders, we read in conclusions, invite the Council of the EU to “adopt additional lists based on its decision of 11 November 2019 on restrictive measures against unauthorized drilling activities in the eastern Mediterranean.” The EU summit also invites the Commission and the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy “to present a report on the state of EU-Turkey relations at the political, economic and trade level, and on the tools and options on how to proceed, including widening the scope of the aforementioned decisions (or sanctions, ed.), to be considered no later than during the “European Council of March 2021“.
Sanctions aside, the rest of the conclusions of the EU leaders are more than conciliatory with Ankara: the strategic value of good relationships between the two parties, especially on the issue of migration, and a “positive agenda” is proposed as a favored path. First, the EU summit “notes Turkey’s withdrawal of the ship Oruc Reis” from Greek waters (one of the ships sent to take over the gas field off the coast of Cyprus) and “insists on a steady reduction to allow a timely resumption and a good continuation of the direct exploratory talks between Greece and Turkey. “
Next, the European Council “reaffirms the strategic interest of the EU in developing cooperative and mutually advantageous relations with Turkey. The offer of a positive EU-Turkey agenda – underlines – remains on the table, provided that Turkey shows that it is willing to promote a genuine partnership with the Union and its Member States, ea resolve differences through dialogue and in accordance with international law. Said agenda could cover the areas of economy and trade, relations between populations, high-level dialogue and the continuation of cooperation and migration issues. “
The leaders of the 27 underline “the importance of keeping communication channels open between the EU and Turkey”, and assure that “the EU will also be ready to continue providing financial assistance to Syrian refugees and other communities hosted in Turkey, and to cooperate in the responsible management of migratory flows towards the Member States and in increasing efforts to smuggling of migrants“The last paragraph of the conclusions on Turkey refers to the old Cypriot question, the island still divided in two: one part in the EU, the other in the Turkish sphere.
