More Than A Decade after the end of the Cold War and the fall of communism, The European Union is seeking to seal the unification of Europe. At a summit held the week of December 11 in Copenhagen, Denmark, marathon enlargement talks were held with 10 ex-communist candidates for membership.
The countries that will be invited to join in May, 2004, are Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Cyprus and Malta. A summit draft statement backed Bulgaria and Romania’s aim of entry in 2007.
A union of 450 million
The present population of the European Union is about 370 million and that of the joining countries is about 75 million.
According to Reuters News Agency, “The marathon talks focused on the more mundane but vital issue of cash. Speaking after a brief meeting with Polish Prime Minister Lexzek Miller, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Poland would be allowed to convert one billion euros of long-term EU aid into a cash-flow facility, giving it immediate extra money to help its budget…
“The other nine EU candidates would be offered up to 300 million euros in extra aid, and the deal would have an impact on the budget of the EU’s net contributors, of which Germany is the largest.”
Turkey’s disappointment
The greatest level of disappointment was experienced by Turkey which has been seeking entry to the EU for several decades.
According to Reuters, “The head of Turkey’s ruling party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has swallowed his disappointment that the European Union did not grant Ankara a date for entry talks in 2003 and said: “We will do our utmost to start the negotiations in 2004.”
Resistance to a Muslim country
Reuters continued, “Hoping to be the first Muslim nation to join, Turkey is not likely to open negotiations until at least early 2005, diplomats said. The EU agreed to review its candidacy in December, 2004.
“The Turkey decision sparked charges of discrimination from Turkish Prime Minister Abdullay Gul, who accused French President Jacques Chirac of blackmail and turning other Europeans against Turkey.
“After talks with Chirac and German Chancellor Schroeder, he sounded a gentler note, saying Turkey would ‘prove if it joins the EU that a Muslim country can be democratic and comfortable with the modern world. I think the European leaders are not ignoring this.”
“To sweeten the pill, the 15 member states and 10 leading candidates due to join on May 1, 2004, were set to initial a joint declaration endorsing Turkey’s accession process.
“Turkey is worried that Cyprus, or another newcomer, might block its path to a club it has tried to join since the 1960s…Turkish EU membership arouses deep passions in Europe, with many voters concerned about letting a mainly Muslim state with a large and rapidly growing population and borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria into the predominantly Christian EU club.”
Turkey’s efforts
Turkey’s efforts to join the EU have lagged in part because of human rights concerns, and many EU governments want to see Turkey carry out further democratic reforms. Turkey insists that it has demonstrated a willingness to meet membership criteria by passing reforms that included abolishing the death penalty. The newly elected government recently submitted a second package of reforms designed to prevent torture and to expand freedoms, and hopes to rush them through parliament to satiny the EU.
Erdogan pro-Islam
A former mayor of Istanbul, party leader Erdogan oversees a party that won 34.3 percent of the popular vote last month, giving it 363 seats in the 550-member Parliament. “During his term as mayor, Erdogan had overseen major improvements in municipal services and infrastructure,” according to a recent paper by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. “But he had shunned Istanbul’s large Western diplomatic and journalist community, forbidden alcohol at all facilities owned by the municipality, cited the Koran as his sole reference and once famously described democracy as a vehicle which one rides as far as one’s destination before alighting.”
United States Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, has described Erdogan and his followers as “The harbingers of a new Muslim party, one that respected democratic principles, favored economic reforms and which had support from the voters because of demands for competent and honest government.
“Most informed observers agree that in this election Turks were casting their votes for the concept of responsible and accountable representation,” Wolfowitz said.
U.S. forces in Turkey
Washington is still hoping to use Turkish territory to base substantial American ground troops for a land attack on Iraq.
“We are quite comfortable with what we can do from the south,” Wolfowitz said, referring to Washington’s invasion plan. “Obviously, if we are going to have a significant group of forces in the north this is the country they are going to have to come through. There is no other option.
“The deployment of American ground troops to Turkey is not only important for opening another front in a conflict with Iraq. It would also enable United States forces to advance into northern Iraq to keep order and head off any potential conflict between Turkish and Kurdish forces.
“It is our position that Turkey will be better off if we are there to manage what comes afterwards,” Wolfowitz said.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One