"...The other problem is Turkey, which has sought accession to the E.U. since the early 1960s. E.U. leaders agreed to open negotiations for accession last fall. Turkey has the same low-wage/reasonable-productivity problem in spades. And it is Muslim. On top of that, its population is growing at developing-world rates, so that it will be tens of millions of people larger than any other European country when it joins. France's National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen (whose absence from the "No" campaign had up till now greatly broadened its appeal) weighed in last Wednesday with a thundering op-ed in Le Figaro in which he warned that a growing Turkey would be "the centerpiece of any blocking majority" against France. This is alarmist, but not wrong.
The collision of Turkey and the constitution has sent more moderate French policy-makers into a panic. Jacques Chirac has solemnly promised that French voters will get a final referendum on Turkish membership. Since there is not a single national public in Europe that favors Turkey, such a vote would doom its candidacy. Nicolas Sarkozy, Chirac's rival and heir-apparent, has been giving speeches for the last several weeks in favor of the constitution and against Turkey. A loosely organized Europe will have room for Turkey, he reasons. But the more closely Europe is integrated, the harder Turkey will find it to live up to its picayune rules. In short: The only way to keep Turkey out is to empower the people who invited it in. An entire group of mostly conservative legislators has rallied around this argument. Frenchly, they call themselves "Yes for No.""
More:European Disintegration? - Yahoo! News
