EU countries feel ‘numb’ about Turkey ahead of critical EU summit

EU member states cannot find a common ground to respond to an escalating situation with Turkey ahead of a crucial summit later this week, Luxherald.com has learnt.

“The feelings in Brussels are numb”, diplomatic sources told EURACTIV on Friday (4 December).

On 10-11 December, EU leaders will meet to discuss again the bloc’s next steps regarding Turkey following a series of disagreements on a number of issues ranging from illegal gas drillings in the Eastern Mediterranean to involvement in Nagorno-Karabakh or Libya, and a recent standoff in the France-Turkey relations.

In theory, the December summit is the deadline set by EU leaders to give Ankara time to de-escalate and move toward a positive agenda with Europe.

“I think that the cat and mouse game needs to end,” EU Council chief Charles Michel said in reply to a question by EURACTIV last Friday.

“We will have a debate at the European summit on 10 December and we are ready to use the means at our disposal”, he said. However, he did not mention the word ‘sanctions’.

The sources admitted that it’s now common knowledge that Turkey has done nothing positive to improve its chances at the summit. However, some EU countries are still cautious to impose sanctions against Ankara.