Turkish Press, Turkey
July 6 2005
The EU Trying to Make Us Foot the Bill
Gazi Erçel
source: Sabah
Columnist Gazi Ercel writes about Turkish-European Union relations. A
summary of his column is as follows:
`Following their defeat in the French and Dutch referendums on the
EU’s constitutional treaty, the leaders of the bloc have been trying
lately to find a scapegoat to foist off their own responsibilities.
At length, they decided to make Turkey pay the bill for their defeat.
But, what’s the real reason for their failure? Because they made
grave mistakes with regard to the enlargement process. Let’s take a
look at some of them:
They prepared a 350-page constitution and failed to explain the
motives and details of the text to their own people. 2. They held
referendums although there was no alternative to the constitution. 3.
They failed to make structural reforms to their own economies. 4.
They failed to address the unemployment problem. 5. They failed to
establish a competitive economic structure. They failed to display
sound leadership.
Consequently, the constitution prepared by these EU decision-makers
was tossed onto to the garbage heap. In addition, thorny problems
have emerged regarding the political integration process. Now most
European leaders seem to prefer giving up their enlargement
aspirations over trying to sell their voters on the process. `Let’s
stop the enlargement, don’t accept new members to the bloc and don’t
spend our taxes on them,’ they say. EU leaders are trying to make the
candidate countries foot the bill for their own failures.
But what will happen now? EU officials might have stumbled badly, but
they are no fools. I don’t think that they will change or postpone
the starting date of Turkey’s membership negotiations. They can’t
risk it because such a decision would damage their credibility in the
eyes of the international community. Instead, they will probably
increase pressure on Ankara, particularly on sensitive issues such as
Cyprus and Armenia. Their ultimate goal will probably be to deter us
by trying our patience.
Under these circumstances, we must act with common sense so as not to
be tricked by their ploy. We should keep patient and improve our
political structure without making concessions from our national
honor. We should not be incited by their provocations. These are the
best things that we can do for now.’
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress