VP/HR — Need for a clear EU position regarding a third country's rights of intervention in the affairs of a Member State
18.7.2017
Question for written answer P-004960-17
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 130
Sofia Sakorafa (GUE/NGL)
Turkey’s stubborn insistence on the continued presence of its occupying forces and its ‘rights of intervention’ in the affairs of a reunited Cyprus, an EU Member State, accompanied by the threat to deploy these forces if necessary, effectively frustrated attempts by negotiators in Switzerland to thrash out a solution to the Cyprus problem.
In this connection:
- —The ‘rights of intervention’ demanded by Turkey are an infringement of the UN Charter, the principles of International Law and the principles and values of the Union, not to mention an encroachment on the sovereign rights of a Member State enshrined in the EU Treaties.
- —Not even the outdated Treaty of Guarantee acknowledges that the guarantor powers have any ‘rights of intervention’, let alone the right of military intervention and occupation.
In view of this:
- —Can the VP/HR say whether there are any circumstances whatsoever under which the EU might acknowledge that a third country had the right to ‘guarantee’ respect for human rights in a Member State, the democratic functioning of its institutions or even its European borders?
- —What steps has the EU taken to make it clear that it will not acknowledge ‘rights of intervention’ of any kind in any of its European Member State?
- —What measures will it take to send a clear signal to the Turkish Government that it will not countenance any rights of intervention on European soil?