The constitution’s last rites and freedom of speech

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso went to London this week and managed to commit news in several different locations.

In a speech at the Chatham House, the Guardian reports, Barroso "delivered the last rites to the EU constitution [16 October] when he declared that European leaders had created a ‘hostage to fortune’ by giving it such a grand name".

The paper’s political editor continues: "Mr Barroso’s remarks, in a speech designed to encourage Britain to be more enthusiastic about the EU, show that key European leaders accept that it will be impossible to revive the constitution in its current form after its rejection last year by voters in France and the Netherlands."

In a Sunday morning interview on the BBC, Barroso extolled the benefits of EU enlargement - especially for Britain. "We are all benefiting from it," he said, "but at least 10-15% of growth of the UK economy can be explained by enlargement of the European Union."

The New Anatolian newspaper focuses on Barroso’s comments on Turkish accession, noting he claimed in the television interview to be "worried about Turkey’s progress in its reform process". According to the paper, Barroso said: "If Turkey fully complies with the political and economic criteria, Turkey’s membership will be good for the Union."

Another factor now complicating Turkey’s EU bid is pending French legislation that would make it illegal to deny the genocide perpetrated by the Ottomans against Armenians from 1914-18.

Austria’s Die Presse argues that it "borders on the absurd" that France may make the denial of Armenian genocide punishable by imprisonment while in Turkey one can be locked up for saying it did occur. "How can there be an open, scholarly discussion if this can land you in prison in two countries?" the paper asks.

Dutch paper De Volkskrant writes: "The vote in [the French] parliament has led to angry reactions in Turkey." It quotes the speaker of Turkey’s house of representatives calling the bill "a scandalous and hostile decision against the Turkish people".

An article in Trouw quotes a spokesperson for the Dutch Federation of Armenian Organisations as saying: "The Turkish argument that [the law] restricts freedom of opinion…is nonsense…This is about facts and you can’t have an opinion about a fact." Uh, yes you can. You can also have an opinion about an absurd quote, but I don’t want to risk a French prison term by expressing it.

Meanwhile, in Turkey, a commentator in Zaman urges calm.

"There is benefit in discussing the probabilities of what is happening in France," he writes, calmly. "It can be claimed that the bill is a tactic that will cause Turkey to break off from the EU negotiations process. Perhaps there are members of parliament from both the party in power and the opposition who would approve such an understanding. In fact, if the law leads to ending Turkey’s EU negotiations, there may be others who would be very happy about it."

Now that is an interesting opinion, indeed.

• Craig Winneker is a freelance writer based in Brussels.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso went to London this week and managed to commit news in several different locations.

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