Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-13-Speech-1-068"
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"en.20041213.10.1-068"2
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, many advantages could certainly be gained from Turkey’s accession to the European Union. Such advantages would include an extension of the common market, which would be of great economic benefit, and undoubtedly also a strengthening of transatlantic links. Yet on closer analysis, it emerges that both these goals can be achieved with relative ease without Turkey joining the European Union.
The European Economic Area is an excellent example of a platform for good economic cooperation between the EU and non-EU Member States. It could also be useful to propose to Turkey an appropriate reform of security policy, as the country is one of Europe’s major strategic partners in the field of security. A privileged partnership of this kind with Turkey would have another major advantage for us, as it would provide us with the chance of avoiding a full-scale crisis of agricultural policy and cohesion policy. Reform of both these policies is self-evident and necessary, in particular in the case of agricultural policy, but it would be an extremely negative development if such a reform were to be carried out merely because there was a chance of Turkey joining the European Union. Privileged membership of this kind would also provide us with an opportunity to forestall further social problems relating to migration. The latter are becoming ever more prevalent in today’s Europe, and ever more difficult to resolve. If we wish to avoid migration-related conflicts, we should not turn a Muslim country into the European Union’s largest Member State, which is what Turkey would become in 2020, for example. This could give rise to civil unrest, something we should be endeavouring to prevent in Europe. The stepping up of relations with Turkey should also be kept more in proportion to Europe’s policy of openness towards Ukraine. Relations with Ukraine have not been neglected through Ukraine’s wishes or Ukraine’s fault. It was also not Ukraine’s fault that it was a Soviet republic in 1963.
These are all good reasons why we cannot vote in favour of this report. We also feel the report was over-sentimentalised in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and we consider it to be imprudent. If we speak so lightly of Turkey’s membership in the European Union, we will build up stores of resentment in Turkey, a country that should be our friend.
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