Cypriot MEP proposal to exclude Turkey from defence programme approved
A proposal to exclude Turkey from participating in defence-related aspects of the European Union’s Horizon Europe 2028–2034 programme was approved on Tuesday by the European Parliament’s committee on defence and security.
The amendment, put forward by Cypriot MEP Costas Mavrides, was adopted by a large majority, securing 29 votes in favour, five against and one abstention.
The proposal relates to the next phase of Horizon Europe, the bloc’s largest funding framework for research and innovation, which for the first time is set to include defence among its eligible priorities.
Mavrides said the objective was to ensure that participation in sensitive defence areas is limited to countries aligned with EU interests and principles.
“My priority was to ensure that only countries that do not go against the interests of the EU and the member states and that respect good neighbourly relations and international law can participate in defence matters,” he said.
He added that the revised text explicitly excludes Turkey from such participation.
“That is why the text as it has been formulated and overwhelmingly voted in favour in the committee excludes Turkey,” Mavrides said, arguing that states considered hostile to the EU or its members should not be involved in a future European defence framework.
“In a European defence union, countries that are hostile to the EU and the member states cannot participate,” he concluded.