Borrell report on Turkey covers all bases

A report by European Commission Vice-President and High Representative Josep Borrell spells out the “political and economic consequences” that Turkey will suffer should the country “not move forward constructively in developing a genuine partnership with the EU.”

According to media reports, Borrell warned of political and economic consequences if Ankara reverted back to “renewed unilateral actions or provocations in breach of international law, aimed at causing prejudice to the interests of the EU and its member states, in particular in the Eastern Mediterranean.”

But the report findings, which were to be presented to the Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, also included a number of incentives for Turkey, with Borrell reaching the conclusion that that even more time was needed to ascertain whether Turkey’s change of attitude was viable and sustainable.

The EU high rep made references to last year, when Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean had been the focus of the bloc's foreign policy.

“And today still, it is clear that the European Union will not be able to achieve stability on the continent unless it finds the right balance in its relations with Turkey," he added.

“Further EU measures should be focused, proportionate and reversible, in order to adapt to the situation and the level of threat or challenge in the best possible manner, incentivize a return to a cooperative track and avoid a negative escalation dynamic,” the report says.

The report also calls for “smart, scalable yet reversible restrictive measures,” including measures targeting European investments in Turkey as well as important sectors in the country “such as a prohibition to supply of tourism services” and negative travel advice by EU governments.