"Integrate Turkey and spread Europe's benefits eastward
By Michel Rocard
Commentary by
Friday, January 13, 2006
Turkey is now, finally, negotiating with the European Commission the terms of its possible membership in the European Union. But whether 'possible' becomes 'eventual' remains very much an open question. Indeed, completing the negotiations is likely to prove as difficult as the decision to start them.
Recall that Turkey made its first application to join in 1959, and that since 1963 the European Economic Community, the forerunner to today's EU, responded with a delaying tactic: a request for a customs agreement. At the same time, having never had to take 'no' for an answer - and after receiving a series of nods and winks that hinted that membership might one day come - Turkey's expectation of eventual EU integration became increasingly palpable."
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