On July 1, Austria will take over the rotating EU presidency.<\/p>\n
In coalition with the far-right Freedom Party, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz\u2019s conservative government said preventing illegal migration, protection of the EU borders and security would be their main priorities.<\/p>\n
Austria\u2019s hard-line stance toward migration is well-known. How they will deal with Turkey once they assume the EU\u2019s rotating presidency is less evident.<\/p>\n
This week, first the EU\u2019s General Affairs Council and then the 28 EU leaders at their summit in Brussels reiterated the importance they attach to Turkey.<\/p>\n
Turkey was confirmed as a key partner, particularly in areas such as migration, counterterrorism, energy, transport, economy and trade.<\/p>\n
A part of the migration policy agreement they reached in Brussels was to release<\/a> the second tranche of 3 billion Euro to Turkey for Syrian refugees.<\/p>\n The number of illegal border crossings into the EU has fallen by 95 % since almost 2.5 million refugees arrived in the EU in 2015-16 and Turkey was commended for its cooperation in what the EU leaders called \u201cdelivery of these clear results\u201d.<\/p>\n Earlier in the week, the EU General Affairs Council had said Brussels could not open any more \u2018chapters\u2019 or policy areas in accession talks or modernise the EU-Turkey customs union due to Ankara\u2019s failure to meet European standards in various areas.<\/p>\n The European Council endorsed these conclusions on enlargement and association process, adopted by the EU General Affairs Council on 26 June 2018.<\/p>\n So, it is not just Austria, with its six-month rotating presidency, that Turkey should be worried about. Concerns over Turkey moving further away from the European Union are shared by other member states, too.<\/p>\n However, Turkey\u2019s relations with Austria have been more strained than most. In a recent interview<\/a> with the Vienna-based Turkish-language newspaper, Yeni Vatan, the veteran Austrian journalist at Profil<\/a>, \u00a0Association of European Journalists (AEJ) President, \u00a0Otmar Lahodynsky said that part of the blame rested with the Austrian politicians. They used the anti-Turkey rhetoric for increasing their votes. But, according to Mr. Lahodynsky, the Turkish government has been interfering with the lives of Turkish citizens living in Austria for too long. \u201cPresident Erdo\u011fan\u2019s strong and aggressive comments about Austria and its politicians have been poisoning the relations and it should stop\u201d Mr Lahodysky said.<\/p>\n Hours after the Brussels summit ended on Friday, Turkey\u2019s Foreign Minister Mevlut \u00c7avu\u015fo\u011flu said<\/a> Turkey did not believe positive steps would be taken with the European Union while Austria holds the presidency of the bloc this year.<\/p>\n