German minister - 'never' to Turkey-EU membership

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday April 15, 2003 22:27 by fishy

Let them join the USA

NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN: "I am a good friend of Joschka, and he tells me, that Turkey will never join", says the Danish foreign minister PER STIG MØLLER in a corridor passage which was taped and used in the film. Candid comments made by the Danish foreign minister and filmed by a Danish TV producer could trouble the entire political process of aligning Turkey with EU membership.

Danish DR television will present on 22 April the documentary "Fogh behind the façade", which has already caused diplomatic rows between Denmark, Turkey and Germany well before it is presented, as it reveals the German foreign minister confiding that "Turkey will never join the EU".

During four months of the Danish EU presidency, TV director Christoffer Guldbrandsen shadowed the Danish Premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen and filmed EU meetings normally closed to the public. The whole idea was to show the public how the political processes work in an attempt to improve transparency.

The programme was approved personally by the Premier and also seen by his top adviser, Nils Bernstein. But they both overlooked – or let slip – a sequence displaying a politically charged statement by German foreign minister Joschka Fischer where he revealed his personal views to Danish foreign minister Per Stig Møller, on Turkish membership of the European Union.

"I am a good friend of Joschka, and he tells me, that Turkey will never join", says the Danish foreign minister Per Stig Møller in a corridor passage which was taped and used in the film.

The political opposition to the Liberal prime minister is furious and says the episode risks severely damaging international diplomatic relations. The episode has also cooled relations between the conservative foreign minister and the liberal premier.

According to Berlingske Tidende, the German foreign ministry has already sent out an official denial through its Ankara embassy.

The film has already been showed in Sweden and Turkey and can be seen on Polish TV tonight.

Press Articles Ekstra Bladet Berlingske Tidende Politiken Written by Lisbeth Kirk
Edited by Mihaela Gherghisan