"Turkey and the European Union
The unwelcome guests
Dec 9th 2004 | AMSTERDAM, BERLIN, BRUSSELS AND PARIS
From The Economist print edition
Despite doubts and grumbles around Europe, next week's EU summit will say yes to the opening of membership talks with Turkey
YOU might be forgiven for assuming that, when European Union leaders meet in Brussels next week, they will have little to say on the main item on their agenda: Turkey's bid to join the EU. The European Commission has recommended the opening of membership talks next year, and most EU leaders are in favour. Yet discussion could still be acrimonious.
The first issue will be when to start the talks. The Turks want a date early in 2005. What they will probably get is a promise of a start some time in the second half of 2005. The reason is that the French referendum on the EU constitution could be in May, and the government is desperate to avoid Turkey clouding the debate. A second argument will be whether to accede to those who want to state explicitly that talks may not end in membership, but instead in a "privileged partnership". The betting is that no such reference will appear in the summit's conclusions.
Turko-sceptics may be thrown other bones, including a "trigger mechanism" providing that negotiations can be suspended if Turkish human-rights reforms go into reverse. There will be debate too about whether to suggest that membership might include permanent exceptions from normal EU laws, especially on free movement of people. Yet the subject of permanent derogations is also unlikely to feature in the conclusions."
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