At the informal meeting of foreign ministers in Malta on Friday last, Luxembourg’s foreign minster, Jean Asselborn criticised the recent referendum in Turkey as a step backwards for democracy. 

At the working sessions, Minister Asselborn recalled that "the constitutional amendments adopted on 16 April by referendum in Turkey constitute a step backwards from the constitutional and democratic tradition of this country. The evolution towards an authoritarian regime, centred on one person, seems to have begun.” 

According to Minister Asselborn, more than 23 million voters have refused to follow the President in this direction and still hope for a secular, free and modern Turkey, a Turkey close to the EU and the values it represents. 

Concerning Turkey's accession to the EU, Minister Asselborn said that "without breaking the bridges with Turkey, it is important now to initiate a serious reflection on the type of relations that the EU wishes to maintain with its neighbour.”

As Dean of the EU Foreign Ministers' College, Jean Asselborn thanked the outgoing French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault for the good collaboration in the Council of Ministers.