« Turkey should not be allowed into the European Union and accession funds provided to its government should be opposed, said Valerie Pecresse, the candidate in the French presidential elections for the centre-right Republicans » says Ahval News.
Pecresse, seen as a main contender to depose Emmanuel Macron in the April vote, said a defence agreement signed between France and Greece would help secure peace and stability in the eastern Mediterranean near the border with Turkey. She spoke in an interview with the Kathimerini newspaper published on Wednesday.
Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has clashed with Greece and Cyprus over territorial rights in the Aegean and Mediterranean, prompting the EU to temporarily impose sanctions on Ankara. Turkey, a NATO member, has called on Greece to demilitarise Aegean islands near its coastline.
“The intimidation of the Turkish government will not impress me,” Pecresse said. “I will oppose Turkey’s integration into the European Union, the process of which has only been suspended, and whose current pre-accession aid must be called into question.
“With me as president, France will be on the front line in the fight against Islamism and in favour of protecting the fate of women’s rights.”
Ahval News, March 3, 2022, Photo/Benoit Tessier/Reuters