w w w .
t u r k i s h w e e k l y
. n e t
2 December 2009
What Will Happen In European Union From Now On?
by Cagri Erhan
European Union seems to come very close to a large deep brink while trying to “enlarge” and “deepen”. Again Leaked To The Press The main headlines are leaked to the press –as always happens-. Do not pay attention to the exaggerated newspaper headlines such as “We Captured the Turkey Report of the Parliament”. If the report is not leaked to the press by the ones who prepared it, how can the journalists in Brussels capture it? And also, with respect to the headlines of “we captured this report” of last year and a year before it, how is the EU unable to hide the same thing every year, and how can someone capture the report before it is being announced officially? May be at the beginning of 2000s when we were totally concentrated on EU issues, we were so excited to read this kind of news. But, in December 2009, the date we realize the 10th anniversary of announcement of Turkey’s candidacy, we started to expect the news from Brussels to be heralded with more glamorous headlines. If the cycle continuing from the signing of the Rome Treaty in 1957 keeps going, then the EU has to give more weight to the enlargement process in the forthcoming period. This is because; every step of “deepening” (the changes in made in the institutional structure and/or the policies of the EU with the treaties signed between the member states) is followed by a wave of enlargement. Or every enlargement is followed by a deepening move. With accomplishment of the fifth and sixth waves of enlargement with the membership of 12 countries to the EU, the EU made the expected reform at last. Thus, will the re-enlargement process be accelerated? Here, it is impossible to answer this question “yes”. Because the problems came with the last enlargement could not be solved, and the functions of the Reform Treaty could not be tested. That is, the new institutional structure as well as the members must be “swallowed” –with the most favored term of the EU-. So how long does it take? It is not easy to predict. The continuing global financial crisis deeply affected the EU members, the new members standing first on the list. The financial indicators are pathetic in Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and Romania. Greece one of the aged members rings the alarms with the increasing unemployment and inflation rates, and shrinking economy. At the beginning of the crisis, relatively better-off countries were providing generous financial aids to the states in a difficult situation with the motto of “one for all, all for one”. Yet now, there can be seen a gradual change to the expressions of “every man for himself” and return to domestic solutions as the most important step to be taken. The deep disagreement between the “locomotive” EU countries is also obvious from the indistinctness of the people elected to be EU’s first president and foreign minister. While an inscribed Turkey opponent Belgium Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy is elected to the presidency rather than electing a successful and charismatic person who will provide a new vision to the EU, are not the ones who say “the big could only reach an agreement on small names” right? And what should be said to the appointment of an obscure person, Barones Catherine Asthon, as foreign minister? Although she undertakes more comprehensive posts than the posts undertaken for 12 years by Javier Solana, Lady Ashton is in Solana’s shadow even from now. European Union seems to come very close to a very large deep brink while trying to “enlarge” and “deepen”. There lots of people who think that Brussels can overcome today’s difficult situation since it came through the big depression it lived with the influence of the world financial situation in the midst of 1970s. Yet, neither the world is the world of 1970s, nor the European Union is the 9 Western European states’ well functioning association leading to a common market. There are also lots of reasons to be pessimistic by looking at the medium term future in Brussels. In such an atmosphere in which no one can make a well forward-looking prediction, can there be a possible acceleration in the negotiation process of Turkey which is already been slowed down for already existing political reasons? The answer is clear: No. It is not possible to say that the negotiation process would be accelerated –because of the outsider factors’ strength-, even if a satisfactory result was reached at the continuing negotiations between the communities in Cyprus Island, even if the island was “united”, even if Turkey officially recognized the Cyprus Republic, and completely applied the Ankara Agreement on this country. Like it or not, EU does not have time to spare on Turkey for a long time whether we beef “they have to meet their commitments” or we fulminate “they always do the same”. Brussels will not give green light to Turkey in the short term then what should be done? We should do the things that we have to do but we keep on delaying. While going beyond the ordinary and changing the parameters, we should change our mentality on the EU, as well. It should be comprehended that EU membership is not a goal but a means. If we keep in mind that the main goals are achieving a fully functioning democratic order, a stable economy, a prospered contemporary community; we should not forget that we can meet these expectations of ours from the EU membership with determined steps whether the negotiation process functions or slows down. If we want to transform to the better, then it will not be done by Brussels but by Ankara. *A version of this article in Turkish was first published in Türkiye newspaper on December 1, 2009. Translated by Gamze Co?kun
Following Ireland’s affirmation of Lisbon Treaty at the second referendum, Poland and Czech Republic removed their small backlogs. Therefore, although the European Union Constitutional Treaty which was decided to be prepared in 2001 is disabled with a train crash, the Reform Treaty which can be referred as an amended version of the Constitutional Treaty has become functional. In this respect, EU has already elected a President and a Foreign Minister. Now it is time for Commission to function with its new form. While EU witnesses the most structural and deep-rooted change ever took place from the Maastricht Treaty came into force in 1993, the institutions of EU keep on functioning. As one of those institutions, the European Parliament will announce its annual report on Turkey in this week.
Change Of Mentality Is A Must
