Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroitdad
Some of that will be necessary. But would you not, if you were France or any other nation for that matter, rather have borders where people can go across and come back? If Turkey is brought into the EU that would by its very nature, lead to a norming of democratic institutions and probably mean a higher standard of living and education (although not necessarily high enough not to want to emigrate). Of course, none of this even mentions the potential security and symbolic benefits.
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I don't disagree with your reasoning. I think it would be a good idea for the EU to welcome Turkey. The long-term benefits would be significant on most, if not all fronts; political, security, and economic. Turkey could be a very helpful bridge to a troubled region. However, everything I see suggests most Western Europeans are not thinking with a long-term perspective when it comes to Turkish ascension.
-- They look and see 2+ million Turks in Germany as well as expanding poor Islamic populations in their own countries (France is 10 percent Muslim now and growing) and fear the repercussions of open borders with Turkey.
-- They don't want to lose more jobs to another lower cost entrant (firms are already relocating to new members in Eastern Europe).
-- Intra-EU politics would become much more difficult and the impact might take Europe in a direction that current members don't want to go. Turkey would come in as the second most populace country in the EU, giving it immediate clout in EU institutions and policies, effectively diluting the power of France and Germany (France in particular since it would be supplanted as the second most populace EU member). In addition to the political and economic impacts, bringing in 70 million Turks, most of whom are religiously conservative, would heavily impact pan-European social policy.
-- And finally, as noted above, I see a certain amount of bigotry/racism involved in opposition to Turkey's entry. "Turkey is in Asia, not Europe!"
These attitudes can be changed, but I think there is going to have to be a lot of effort on the part of Western European elites as well as Turkey itself. I’m optimistic that in the end, Turkey will be granted entrance. But give current thinking in Western Europe, it’s going to take a long time. I wonder if the Turks are patient enough to wait that long.