stretching Europe

Turkey is one of the big issues in international politics concerning the European Union. Turkey wants to be EU member. But not the complete EU want Turkey to take part in the political and economical structure.
Some pro's and contra's arise talking about Turkey being a full EU memeber.

The following is a contribution from a report of a COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES:

The clear position of the European Union with regard to Turkey’s status as candidate country and the conditions for the possible opening of negotiations were reconfirmed by the Brussels European Council meeting in June 2004, which concluded that:

“The Union reaffirms its commitment that if the European Council decides in December
2004, on the basis of a report and recommendation from the Commission, that Turkey fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria, the EU will open accession negotiations with Turkey without delay.”


Summary assessment
Accession of Turkey to the Union would be challenging both for the EU and Turkey. If well managed, it would offer important opportunities for both. The necessary preparations for accession would last well into the next decade. The EU will evolve over this period, and Turkey should change even more radically. The acquis will develop further and respond to the needs of an EU of 27 or more. Its development may also anticipate the challenges and opportunities of Turkey’s accession.

Based on current EU policies and knowledge, the Commission has identified the following main issues for the coming years:

• Turkey’s accession would be different from previous enlargements because of the
combined impact of Turkey’s population, size, geographical location, economic,
security and military potential, as well as cultural and religious characteristics. These factors give Turkey the capacity to contribute to regional and international stability.
Expectations regarding EU policies towards these regions will grow as well, taking
into account Turkey’s existing political and economic links to its neighbours. Much
will depend on how the EU itself will take on the challenge to become a fully fledged
foreign policy player in the medium term in regions traditionally characterised by
instability and tensions, including the Middle East and the Caucasus.

• Turkey is at present going through a process of radical change, including a rapid
evolution of mentalities. It is in the interest of all that the current transformation
process continues. Turkey would be an important model of a country with a majority
Muslim population adhering to such fundamental principles as liberty, democracy,
respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

• The economic impact of Turkey’s accession on the EU would be positive but
relatively small, both due to the modest size of the Turkish economy and to the degree of economic integration already existing before accession. Much will depend on future economic developments in Turkey. The launch of accession negotiations should help the continued efforts of Turkey to ensure macroeconomic stability and promote investment, growth and social development. Under these conditions, Turkey’s GDP is expected to grow more rapidly than the EU average.

• Accession of Turkey, a lower middle income country, would increase regional
economic disparities in the enlarged EU in a way similar to the most recent
enlargement, and would represent a major challenge for cohesion policy. Turkey
would qualify for significant support from the structural and cohesion funds over a
long period of time. A number of regions in present Member States benefiting from
structural funds support could lose their eligibility on the basis of present rules.

• The integration of Turkey into the internal market would be beneficial. This depends, however, not only on the fulfilment of present obligations under the customs union but also on more horizontal reforms, such as strengthening corporate governance and regulatory frameworks, intensifying the fight against corruption, and significantly improving the functioning of the judiciary.

• With over three million, Turks constitute by far the largest group of third-country
nationals legally residing in today’s EU. Available studies give varying estimates of
expected additional migration following Turkey’s accession. Appropriate transitional
provisions and a permanent safeguard clause could be considered to avoid serious
disturbances on the EU labour market. However, the population dynamics of Turkey
could make a contribution to offsetting the ageing of EU societies. In this context, the EU also has a strong interest in that reforms and investments should be made in
education and training in Turkey over the next decade.

• Agriculture is one of the most important economic and social sectors in Turkey and
would need special attention. Continuous rural development efforts and an upgrading
of administrative capacity would be required from Turkey to create as favourable
conditions as possible to participate successfully in the common agricultural policy.
Turkey would need time to make a number of agricultural sectors more competitive.
Turkey would need considerable time in order to avoid substantial income losses for
Turkish farmers. Under present policies Turkey would be eligible for substantial
support. In the veterinary area, major efforts would have to be made to improve the
animal health situation and controls at the eastern borders in order to avoid serious
problems upon accession.

• Turkey’s accession would help to secure better energy supply routes for the EU. It
would probably necessitate a development of EU policies for the management of
water resources and the related infrastructure. Because of their sometimes
considerable trans-boundary effects, good implementation by Turkey of other EU
policies in the fields of environment, transport, energy and consumer protection would also have considerable positive effects for EU citizens elsewhere.

• The management of the EU’s long new external borders would constitute an important
policy challenge and require significant investment. Managing migration and asylum
as well as fighting organised crime, terrorism, trafficking of human beings, drugs and arms smuggling would all be facilitated through closer cooperation both before and after accession.

• The budgetary impact of Turkish membership to the EU can only be fully assessed
once the parameters for the financial negotiations with Turkey have been defined in
the context of the financial perspectives from 2014 onwards. The nature and amount
of transfers to Turkey would depend on a number of changing factors, such as the
EU’s policies and any special arrangements agreed with Turkey in the negotiations as
well as the budgetary provisions in place at that time, in particular the overall
budgetary ceiling. However, it is clear that the budgetary impact on the basis of
present policies would be substantial.

• As to the institutions, Turkey’s accession, assessed on the basis of the Constitution, would significantly affect the allocation of European Parliament seats of current Member States, in particular the medium sized and large countries. In the Council, Turkey would have an important voice in the decision making process in view of its population share which would be reflected in the Council voting system. The impact in terms of the Commission would be less important given the planned reduction of the members of the Commission from 2014 onwards.

It's surely a challenge to have Turkey within the EU. But it's a complete fiasco if the Turks don't fit in. Maybe it's purily political. For economical purposes we don't have to do it. Both sides don't benefit from it because the economical relationship is "okay" at the moment. The United States of America might benefit from it for political reasons and this isn't good for the status of Turkey in the EU.

My critisism is that Turkey doesn't really understand the ethics of Europe. Why do the Turks need so much critisism to change. Don't they understand torturing prisoners isn't toleratable? This is only one "minor" problem. What do they do with the Kurds and their imprisoned leader Ocelan?
The largest part of Turkey, east of the Bosporus, isn't Europe at all.
Maybe not an argument but Alexander would have liked it.