German MP: Time to sanction Turkey
Juergen Trittin of Green party urges Brussels to take a firmer stance
“The EU must very seriously consider taking economic measures and sanctioning Turkey,” the head of foreign policy in Germany’s Green party, Juergen Trittin, unequivocally states in an interview with Kathimerini.
The influential official in one of the country’s co-governing parties stresses that the West needs to make sure that Turkey understands that it “needs” Europe and NATO, whose interests it “regularly undermines.”
As for the energy crisis, Trittin believes that a full transition to renewables is the only way forward and even dismisses the use of nuclear power. On the matter of the ongoing war in Ukraine, he says that the EU needs to increase support for Kyiv following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent escalation.
– Recep Tayyip Εrdogan’s Turkey seems to have the dual status of an ally but also a troublemaker for the European Union and NATO. Greece experiences this reality in the most indicative way in the Aegean. You have expressed the opinion that the West should change its strategy toward Turkey. What is your reasoning and what could this mean practically?
Turkey regularly undermines the common interests of the EU and NATO. It undermines the sanctions policy against Russia, acts against international law in Syria, prevents the control of the UN arms embargo against Libya and violates the sovereign rights of Greece, a NATO ally and EU member. President Erdogan is solely concerned with his domestic political advantage and ignores Alliance interests. However, since there are no sanction mechanisms within NATO, nor is it possible to expel a member, the EU must very seriously consider taking economic measures and sanctioning Turkey. Turkey needs the European market and it needs the alliance with NATO. This must be made very clear to it.
– In your opinion, what are the mistakes made by the European Union, and especially Germany, in the field of energy policy and how can the problem be addressed? Are the Commission’s measures moving in the right direction?
Dependence on fossil fuels is a fundamental problem to which most European countries have turned a blind eye. Unilateral dependence on Russian gas has exacerbated this. For years, German industry has benefited from relatively cheap gas from Russia. This dependency cannot be solved through multiple sources of supply – i.e. diversification – but only by switching to clean, renewable energies. We have now had to learn this painfully. But now we are taking the right steps – dependence on Russian gas imports has fallen from 40 to 9 percent. But we have to fundamentally move away from fossil energies and high-risk technologies like nuclear power. France, too, must finally understand this.
– What should the aim of the EU in the crisis with Russia be? Can Ukraine win this war? Or should the two sides sit down at the negotiating table?
This war will also be ended by a political agreement. But Putin is clearly not willing to negotiate anything. He is counting on escalation and his partial mobilization. So Ukraine continues to need our support. It must be so strong militarily, politically and economically that no negotiated outcome can be dictated to it.