Friday

29th Mar 2024

EU normalises relations with Turkmenistan

  • The MEPs' vote opens the door to normalising relations with Turkmenistan (Photo: d_proffer)

A loosely-worded promise by a non-relevant European Commission official in Strasbourg on Wednesday (22 April) ended an 11-year long stalemate in EU-Turkmenistan relations.

Four hundred and fifty nine mostly conservative, socialist and liberal MEPs voted through a new trade agreement with the Central Asian country. One hundred and sixty two predominantly green and far-left deputies voted against.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

EU states first asked parliament to bless the deal in 1998. But MEPs held out for meaningful human rights reforms before approving the pact.

The human rights reforms never came. But with EU-Turkmenistan relations racing ahead in real terms due to natural gas investments, parliament instead accepted a commission pledge to take its concerns into account.

If MEPs in future call for the treaty to be suspended "the commission will seriously consider duly reflecting parliament's recommendations," internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy, normally responsible for regulating EU insurance companies and postal services, said in plenary.

The rapporteur in charge of the dossier, German conservative MEP Daniel Caspary, believes the gentlemen's agreement will hold.

"The commission said very clearly that if parliament asks for a suspension, they would do it. Sometimes in life you have to trust people," he said. "I definitely will watch this in the next parliament."

A commission spokeswoman spelled out the harsh reality. "It is what it says - 'consider' - that doesn't automatically give you a veto right," Christiane Hohmann said.

The EU is planning in Prague on 8 May to roll out the red carpet for Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov at an energy summit, where he will have photo opportunities with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign relations chief Javier Solana.

The bloc is hoping that Turkmenistan - the world's number four natural gas owner - will help make into reality plans to build a major new pipeline bypassing Russia.

The country's reputation, as a grotesque dictatorship, makes it a controversial partner for Europe, however.

The Berdymukhammedov government is currently spending €33 million to repair the fountains of its capital, Ashgabat, where golden statues of former president Niyazov still rotate to face the sun.

Meanwhile, jails heave with political and religious prisoners, amid reports of horrors such as religious conversion by threat of rape, incarceration in psychiatric hospitals, forced lobotomisation and disappearances.

"Member states and the commission focused all their efforts on dismantling the EP's opposition to engagement with no strings attached," Human Rights Watch analyst Veronika Szente Goldston said.

"Now they have to make up for time lost and urgently redouble efforts to extract concessions from Ashgabat."

Opinion

EU can help end egregious abuses in Central Asia

The changes in Uzbekistan have shown that political will can improve human rights, that citizens welcome those changes, and that they benefit the country's international reputation. This should be a lesson for how the EU deals with others in region.

US and EU breaking taboos to restrain Israel

The US abstained and all EU states on the UN Security Council backed a call for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, as Europe prepares to also blacklist extremist Israeli settlers.

EU warns Russia over Moscow terror attacks

Europe has warned Russia not to use the weekend's terror attacks in Moscow as a pretext to escalate its war in Ukraine and crackdown on internal dissent.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us