During a plenary debate on Turkey, the head of the largest parliamentary group in the European Parliament, the European People's Party (EPP), called on Great Britain as the current EU president to apply the same standards to Croatia and Turkey.
Croatia has only one problem, while Turkey still has a lot of things to sort out, Hans-Gert Poettering said.
Talks with Croatia and Turkey should begin at the same time, because that would be a clear sign that the EU is not pitting the two countries against each other, said Hannes Swoboda, a member of the second largest group, the European Socialists (PSE), and the European Parliament's rapporteur for Croatia.
Michael Gahler of the EPP was very critical of what he described as double standards of the European Union.
I think the same standards should apply to all candidate countries regarding the start of negotiations, Gahler told reporters, citing 1,200 reported cases of torture and other human rights violations in Turkey this year. I think it would be unfair to start talks with Turkey, he added.
It is unjust to pretend in Turkey's case that the political criteria have been met, and obstruct the opening of talks with Croatia because of just one person, General Gotovina, in whose case I am certain that the Croatian government is doing all it can to arrest him and that no one can prove that he is in Croatia, he said.
Gahler further said that holding a whole country hostage to just one person showed great partiality on the part of the EU, which he said was unacceptable.
We must see to it on Monday that we decide on opening the talks with Croatia, he said.
The EPP deputy did not spare Hague tribunal chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte either.
Who is she? She is not an EU citizen, she is not a judge, she is just a prosecutor. No one can be a judge and a prosecutor in the same person, and if the decision makers -- the governments of the 25 member states -- hide behind her and make a decision in her favour, then she de facto becomes a judge, Gahler said.
Unlike his colleague Jelko Kacin from the Democratic Party of Prime Minister Janez Jansa, the Slovene member of the European Parliament, Miha Brajc, announced before a vote on a resolution on Turkey that he would vote against, saying that opening talks with Turkey would be unjust towards the countries that joined the bloc last year and those still waiting at its door.
We must not start applying double standards, because if we do, there will be no going back, and I do not want to take part in such politics, Brejc told reporters.
The European Parliament on Wednesday passed a resolution giving the green light for the start of accession talks with Turkey, but MPs refused to vote on a protocol extending customs union with Turkey to include the ten new members because of Turkey's position on Cyprus.