The Swedish PM on the "Turkish question"
Ritula Shah writes:
Sweden takes over the Presidency of the EU from the Czechs on Wednesday. We've been speaking to the Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt about his government's priorities for the next six months. Sweden is known to be in favour of pushing ahead with Turkey's application to join the European club. But in our interview, the Swedish Prime minister made it clear that whatever the position of his country, the opposition of other key EU states (Germany and France being the obvious ones) to Turkey's membership, meant they believed there's little hope of making progress on this issue.
When President Obama visited Ankara in April, he gave clear US backing to Turkey's membership of the Union but the Turkish question is one of the most controversial and divisive for the EU. The champions of enlargement (Britain is one of them) argue that Turkey's strategic importance - as the bridge between east and west - make it vital to include the country in the Union. Its opponents point to Turkey's failure to keep up the pace of reform and say this poor predominantly muslim nation, isn't a good fit with Europe's broadly "Christian" character. The success of right wing parties, which oppose Turkish membership in this month's European elections suggest public enthusiasm may be limited too.
So, judging from our interview with the Prime minister, this is how Sweden has weighed up the issue too. But if the Swedes won't champion Turkey's accession during their time at the helm, the government in Ankara may be feeling rather pessimistic about its chances.
You can hear our interview by clicking below.
(broadcast on The World Tonight, BBC Radio 4, 29 June 2009)
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Austria is also very opposed to Turkey joining. America's endorsement probably is another negative factor in Turkey's accession if for no other reason than much of Europe's perverse knee-jerk attitude towards anything related to American policy goals. The decision is at best probably ten to fifteen years away and a lot can happen between now and then but as of today, it doesn't look good.
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"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet."
So said Rudyard Kipling. Europe doesn't seem to accept that we are all different and may not want to conform to some kind of monoculture.
Or maybe that 'multiculturalism' [as opposed to being 'multicultural' ] means that Western renaissance values may be under threat.
If one took the 'bridge' argument to its logical conclusion one could argue that India, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq should be part of the EU as they are, to greater or lesser extents, 'bridges' between Europe, Asia and Africa.
But what would this actually achieve ? Do these countries want to change and be part of the anti-democratic bureaucracy of the EU ? Would it reduce differences and increase peace between peoples ??
One only has to look at Israel to see what a political union of geography without the support of the will of the people can result in.
But I do find it hilarious that the Tories are now whingeing about inward Eastern Europe migration, when they were all in favour of enlargement to include accession countries, to help put a sprag in the wheel of 'federalism'.
Be careful what you wish for..
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I don't think everyone in Turkey is wild about the idea either, but if they do eventually join, could we expect Syria and Iraq to follow?
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Turkey's leader just congratulated Ahmadinejad on being "re-elected" as his thugs were beating people who were just out on the streets or actively protesting peacefully. What would the reaction to that be in Europe? I'm no fan of Europe but how different can a country's outlook be from the mainstream norm if there is such a thing in Europe and still be acceptable? I'm standing on the sidelines watching this show like a spectator at a ping pong match. Right now I'd say the anti Turkey forces in the EU are winning. All it takes is one member to say no....unless they change the rules midstream again the way they did with Maastrict.
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After our experience with Poland and other eastern European countries, the prospect of Turkey joining the EU fills me with horror. No doubt the Government would assure us that huge numbers of Turks would not come to the UK, but in reality the most likely outcome would be tens or hundreds of thousands of Turks entering this already grossly overcrowded and overdeveloped country - yet more countryside will be destroyed for housing, yet more cars on the roads, yet more noise and pollution. I am also greatly concerned about Turkish influence on issues such as the teaching of evolution in schools, since recent events have shown that Turkey is a very unenlightened and backward country in this respect.
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TerryS, maybe what you say is all true but when added to the EU's GDP, Turkey's would make the EU look superficially even larger and more prosperous compared to the US than it does already. And wasn't that the mentality that justified enlarging the EU to include Eastern Europe in the first place, to "Challenge America" as Chirac and de Villepin put it so succinctly? Had the citizens of Europe had a chance to debate and understand the implications of taking on those huge economic liabilities and been able to vote on them, I doubt even one of them would have been given membership anytime soon, not until they came up to far higher standards. But the EU is a dictatorship pure and simple so that didn't happen.
Russia is as European as Turkey, even moreso. Since the border between Europe and Asia are defined arbitrarily by mapmakers, certainly in the case of Turkey, why not further enlargement? Most Russians live West of the Urals, the dividing line.
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