While the proposal to freeze Turkey’s accession negotiations in the face of AKP fascism’s policies will be voted on in the European Parliament on Thursday, some politicians think it won’t do any good. Some European politicians believe economic sanctions towards Turkey will be more effective.

The Greens and left- and right-wing conservative parties support the proposal submitted by the social democrats to be voted on Thursday. But the proposal to freeze Turkey’s EU accession negotiations will only be advisory.

According to EP Turkey Rapporteur Kati Piri, the proposal is more or less sure to pass.

“ECONOMIC SANCTIONS WILL BE MORE EFFECTIVE”

But many EP members are of the opinion that this decree against Turkey should constitute a “beginning”, and demand economic sanctions be put in place.

German Social Democratic Party (SPD) MP Arne Lietz said Turkey is “already in a privileged partnership with the EU”, and it was “time to reconsider these privileges”. Lietz argued that Turkey can be given a “yellow card” or a “red card” in the economic sphere.

Lietz stressed that the “arsenal of instruments” Europe can use against Turkey is larger than that of Russia.

TURKEY IS IN A WEAKER POSITION THAN RUSSIA

According to Manfred Weber who spoke on behalf of the EP conservative group EVP, Turkey is significantly “weaker” than Russia in the face of economic sanctions. Weber argues that economic sanctions should be put in place in addition to freezing EU accession negotiations.

The demands of many ecologist and leftist parliamentarians include cancelling the Refugee Deal that Turkey uses for blackmail.

According to Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz of Austria’s right-wing People’s Party (ÖVP) who strongly oppose Turkey joining the EU, the claim that the refugee flow into Europe has slowed down since the refugee deal is not entirely true. Kurz believes the Balkan countries closing borders has been important in the fall in refugee arrivals.