"Don't deny membership to Turkey
BY GEORGE A. PAPANDREOU
www.project-syndicate.cz
Having successfully integrated 10 new members in May -- including eight former communist countries with significantly lower levels of economic development -- some argue that the European Union should stop there. But drawing a line under the enlargement process would be both a missed opportunity and a cruel blow to those countries in the Balkans and elsewhere for which the prospect of membership is an important incentive for reform and renewal.
We Greeks know this very well. It was our belief in Europe as a catalyst for peace and prosperity that led us to support Turkey's EU aspirations. When the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) government launched its policy of Greek-Turkish rapprochement during my tenure as foreign minister, many people were suspicious of mending ties with an old enemy. Changing entrenched attitudes could not happen overnight; it required a step-by-step process of confidence-building measures, from the grass-roots level to the heights of political power."
More:Herald.com | 12/15/2004 | Don't deny membership to Turkey
