‘If I’m childish and foolish, I’m not alone,’ Pullicino Orlando tells Turkish Minister

Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando this morning reacted harshly to statements made by European Affairs Minister and chief negotiator Egemen Bagis to the Sunday Times.

"If I'm 'childish and foolish', I'm in good company," Pullicino Orlando posted his Facebook wall.

"The European People's Party, Angela Merkel and 70% of German citizens, Nicolas Sarkozy and 75% of French citizens are also against Turkey being accepted as a member of the EU for the same reasons I have put forward."

Pullicino Orlando added that Turkey's chief EU negotiator had "an uphill battle due to his country's abysmal human rights record", notwithstanding the fact it has been a member of the Council of Europe since 1949.

"I wouldn't waste my time on puerile name-calling if I were in his position," Pullicino Orlando warned.

Pullicino Orlando has already made it clear that he'll be opposing Turkey's accession to the EU. Turkey's membership will require parliamentary approval but the Nationalist government already has one MP who will not be toeing the official government line.

While insisting that the Maltese government doesn't have the mandate to support the Turkish accession, Pullicino Orlando added that Turkey is "not culturally European".

In a reaction, Turkey's chief EU negotiator said that such comments were "childish and foolish". Bagis told the Sunday Times that Turkey was trying to join the EU, and "not a union of Christians".

"If this gentleman thinks Malta is a member of a Christian club he is wrong. There are tens of millions of Muslims living in EU member states, including Malta," Bagis said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg has said there was no reason not to accept Turkey once it fulfils all criteria of EU membership.