Could EU be strong without Turkey?
Ankara’s membership to EU has been a true issue of conflict between the parties for over a decade now as EU has kept waiting Turkey on its toes all this time.
Some believe if the EU opened its doors to Turkey it would all at once face Turkish invasion by workers wishing to take up employment in western EU countries such as Germany, France and so forth thus causing great economic chaos in the member countries.
At this point Turkish officials believe EU has been trying to make life real difficult for Turkey by making many kinds of obstacles to prevent an premature accession.
On the other hand we have many who say EU does not stand strong chances to be strong and efficient without Ankara’s membership, such as the Italian ambassador to Turkey.
The ambassador is reported to have said that Italy supports the idea of removing visas for Turkey and it could be for the benefit of the union to include such as country with remarkable potential of growth and very dynamic and growing economy.
According to the envoy Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) could not be an alternative for EU as he believes the EU is an important pillar of Turkey. He also believes in the future, Turkey is bound to be an important pillar of the EU”.
On the other hand many officialson both sides also believe 2013 could be an important year to carry on with interrupted negotiations and parties could display some positive and constructive progress on the way to Turkey’s full accession. To verify these hopes it is reported that the EU is preparing to lift its block on at least one accession chapter during Ireland’s current bloc term presidency.
Commenting on the issue some diplomats have emphasized that the purpose would be “not only to help a friend country, but also contribute to the EU’s interest” to have a Turkey without visas.
It is reported that there are about 100,000 people coming every year from Turkey. The potential however is known to be much bigger.
09.02.2013
Editor, BTT
