Parliament President Martin Schulz went on an official visit to to Ankara on 1 September where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and İsmail Kahraman, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

“The European Parliament remains a committed supporter in advancing and deepening EU-Turkey relations,” said Schulz. He also paid tribute to “all the Turkish citizens who courageously took to the streets to defend democracy in the country” and called for the political dialogue to be set on the right footing once again: “We need to talk to each other rather than at each other.”

In a media briefing afterwards, the Parliament President said: “Essentially we largely agreed on the necessity to openly discuss our different point of views in order to develop common views from this open dialogue that bring us closer to each other again.”

On 30 August the foreign affairs committee discussed the results of the fact-finding mission to Ankara on 23- 25 of August.

MEPs expressed their concerns about the Turkish government response to the attempted coup. Thousands of people – including soldiers, judges and journalists – have been detained for questioning while some of them have also lost their job. Committee chair Elmar Brok, a German member of the EPP group, said: “Even before the coup d’état in Turkey, developments as regards the freedom of opinion were not acceptable and took Turkey farther away from EU.”

MEPs, including Dutch S&D member Kati Piri who wrote a progress report on Turkey’s efforts to become an EU member, agreed that that the attempted coup was an attack on Turkish democracy. However, they stressed that the way the country is handling the aftermath of the coup is a crucial test for the country´s democracy, especially when it comes to respecting human rights and the rule of law. MEPs also said that Turkey must meet all criteria in order to have visa restrictions lifted.

Photo: Official visit of President of the European Parliament to the Republic of Turkey.

Speaking at a joint press conference with the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, following his presentation of the priorities of the Cyprus Presidency at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, President Christofias said that the reason austerity policies have not worked was because they are one-sided.

“There needs to be a combination between fiscal discipline, which is necessary, and growth and creation of jobs. There is a need for balanced policies. That is what the Cyprus Presidency looks for.”

The President of the European Parliament said that the Cyprus Presidency is very well prepared. “It is one of the best prepared Presidencies I have seen in a very long time. Mr. Barroso has also evaluated the Presidency in the same way as I have,” Schulz said.

He expressed belief that Cyprus and President Christofias himself will strive for more social justice, solidarity, control of financial markets, combating poverty and noted that Demetris Christofias is the right person at this time to represent the EU on issues of social justice and to represent the European ideals based on the Community Method.

Replying to a question, the President of the European Parliament noted that Turkey should respect that the EU has certain rules one of which is the rotating EU Presidency.

“Turkey wants to accede the EU and not vice versa, that is why Turkey should respect the EU rules,” Schulz said.

Barroso added: “I want, once again, to pay tribute to the courage and exceptional resilience of the Greek people. A lot of sacrifices are being demanded from them to redress their economy and move into a prosperous future.

The second economic adjustment programme agreed between Greece and the Eurogroup is the foundation to achieve this goal. We stand ready to continue to support Greece in its endeavour…”

President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy ahead the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico argued: “…We more than share the worries about the debt crisis in the Euro area. It’s in our own interest to overcome this crisis… The crisis has affected different countries in different ways. These divergences were reflected in the current account of the balance of payments. Today these divergences are decreasing significantly. So are the fiscal deficits in the Euro area. A common currency needs this convergence.

We continue also combining three ways of tackling this crisis: reforms at the level of the Member States and at the level of the Euro area; promoting economic growth with an active agenda on investment and at the same time ensuring differentiated fiscal consolidation; crisis management with new financial and governance tools (for instance recapitalising the banks) and at the same time deepening our economic and monetary union, so that the euro becomes an irreversible project…”

“…The Euro area Member States are determined, all the more after the choice made by the Greek people. Greece wants to stay in the eurozone. We are confident that the new Greek government will take ownership of the adjustment programme to which the Greek authorities had committed earlier this year. This is the basis upon which to build to foster growth, prosperity and jobs for the Greek people…”

Finally, European Parliament President Martin Schulz made the following statement on the results on parliamentary elections in Greece: “I welcome the results of the general elections in Greece. The results show a broad and clear support in favour of Greece staying in the euro zone.

I salute the efforts of the Greek people to overcome the crisis. They have made great sacrifices. I hope the burden of the reforms will be spread more equally to achieve greater social justice.

I hope that Greece will rapidly form a government that breaks the political deadlock and pursues the required reforms to overhaul the economy and Greek public finances. The Greek people deserve a stable and prosperous future.

I congratulate Antonis Samaras and his New Democracy party for winning the elections and I encourage the Greek political forces to form a responsible coalition government in the coming days.

I am particularly pleased with New Democracy’s declaration that they will broadly stick to commitments Greece has made to the European Union.

The new Greek government will be able to count on our constructive cooperation in possible fine-tuning of its reform strategy and economic targets. If Greece sticks to its commitments, the EU can examine what could be done further to solve the crisis.”