Duitsland en Nederland blokkeren EU-onderhandelingen Turkije

Germany’s decision to block the opening of this chapter due to domestic political reasons caused a rift within the EU countries. Although the Netherlands and Austria are aligned with Germany on this chapter, a significant majority of countries criticized the EU heavyweight and called on it not to block the opening of the chapter on regional policies. Italy, France, Sweden, Spain, Poland and the United Kingdom have been actively engaged to convince Germany, underlining that this move would fully nix the EU’s leverage on Turkey. The issue was brought to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s attention during the G-8 meeting, but her resistance has yet to be overcome thus far.