TURKEY EU ACCESSION OUT THE DOOR ?

Turkey will not beg anyone to join the 27-nation bloc if it faces new rejection. Germany appears to lead efforts to block the Turkish accession process. Germany and the Netherlands have opposed the opening of accession talks between Turkey and the EU on a negotiating chapters. Both the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) oppose Turkey’s membership and want cooperation between the EU and Turkey and strategic collaboration on foreign and security policies instead. The CDU/CSU are of the opinion that Turkey would overburden the EU because of its size and economy.

Observers say failure to reach an agreement to open the talks before July, when the current Irish term presidency ends, might trigger a drastic backlash from Turkey, which has long complained of a lack of progress in its accession process. It is speculated that the EU failure to go ahead with the talks might even lead to withdrawal of the Turkish permanent representative at the EU.

Turkey, which began accession talks with the EU in 2005, and the EU last opened talks on a negotiating chapter three years ago, on June 30, 2010, the last day of the Spanish presidency. Turkey has only been able to open 13 out of 35 chapters and temporarily closed one since the talks started on Oct. 3, 2005.

For the record six months ago, the European Union Member States stated that it is in the interest of both parties that accession negotiations regain momentum soon. A few weeks ago, the President of the European Council, Mr Herman Van Rompuy, paid a landmark visit to Turkey, confirming the crucial importance of Turkey for the European Union, to build new and stronger bridges between Europe and Turkey.

Here below is how Štefan Füle, Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy imagine things few years from now:

• A deeper European Union, multi-layered and more enlargement friendly.
• A European Union, stronger and more democratic, transforming and evolving, reaching to those neighbours who also want to anchor themselves to its democracy, prosperity and stability.
• Turkey as a democratic and prosperous country that has managed to achieve a peaceful coexistence between lifestyles, beliefs and cultures, based on mutual respect, and on the basis of a permanent dialogue between all segments of society, irrespective of the issues at stake or the political majority of the time.
• Turkey's relations with Europe even closer than now with a broad based inclusive accession process delivering on and driven by the aspirations of civil society and helping to build up public confidence.
• Citizens of Turkey travelling to Europe without visas.
• Goods and services circulating without hindrance from Van to Helsinki and from Istanbul to Lisbon.
• Caspian and Central Asian gas - and who knows, maybe even East Mediterranean gas - running through brand new pipelines across Turkey and into the European Union.
• Accession negotiations obviously in a well advanced state, with many more chapters opened and closed, with the EU as a benchmark for reforms.
• The Cyprus issue resolved with a comprehensive settlement re-uniting two equal communities.