Congratulations to the 10 new EU members

[efty]

Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary have been invited to join the EU. On the other hand Turkey’s admission was once more postponed.

I was almost certain that there would be a solution of the Cyprus problem during the summit but the negotiations failed once more. To be honest I did not like the proposed plan. They expected us to pay in order to get our occupied homes back, to pay in order the economic level of the Turkish Cypriots levels with us. Not to mention the fact that all the immigrants would remain.

[K6-III]

I would have liked to see Turkey admitted...

Where are you from, BTW???

[thop]

whats the difference between efty and eftychios

[Guru]

Originally posted by K6-III
I would have liked to see Turkey admitted...

Where are you from, BTW???

Location: New York

[efty]

I am Eftychios, this is my old account.

I am from Cyprus curently in NY.

As far as Turkey goes, it was expected that they would not define a date. Turkey has a looong way to go economicaly and socially.

[K6-III]

Indeed, but its inclusion could be very beneficial to the region in the long term.

Also, it has been making quite significant social strides in the last few years....

[Umfriend]

I still can't believe the way we treat Turkey. I also think it is a major error because I fear it increases the risk of Turkey shifting its focus eastwards instead of west. Turkey is our neighbour after all, and it's a big one at that...

I may be wrong, but I think for an Islamic country, Turkey is the one with the most solid democratic base and as reliable as most other EU nations. Given the development that the other Muslim countries need to experience, including turkey woudl have been a good idea...but alas
Umf

[K6-III]

I would classify Turkey as on par with some Eastern European countries that were admitted.

Much of the way that Turkey is presently being treated is due to a stigma brought to Europe by immigrants from Turkey, who had a tendency to not be the most educated, to say it lightly. They hardly were an accurate representation of Turkey proper, yet the stigma remains in much of Europe to this day...

[KvHagedorn]

Maybe they would be more welcome if they took those immigrants back and would be the kind of place people wouldn't want to leave.

They are really less European than any EU country. Ukraine and Belarus have more business being in the EU than they do.

[Dr Mordrid]

I think it's a major strateigic error not to get Turkey into the EU as soon as possible. The sooner they get "European-ized" the better for the overall geopolicics of the near-east.

Dr. Mordrid

[Wulfman]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
a major strateigic error

as in "military" or "economic" strategy?

mfg
wulfman

PS.: "political" not included, because this involves a mixture of the above.

[Schorsch]

There are several reasons why Turkey hasn't been admitted (yet). The GDP of Turkey is only about 30 % of the EU average, the inflation in Turkey is extremely high (about 50 %) and the country's budget deficit is also much higher than in the EU countries. Apart from these economical figures, the violation of human rights is still a major problem and Turkey certainly won't be admitted until these issues are resolved. As efty already said, they still have a long way to go...

[KvHagedorn]

Turkey is already a member of NATO, so the military part is taken care of. Don't make the mistake of thinking EU membership would solve any problems for the West in the Middle East, either. Arabs don't have any particular love for Turks, and Turkey will not be "Europeanized" even if they were to be included in the EU. It's better as it is, to have them as a sort of buffer state.

[Umfriend]

*Trying not to be indignant*

There may be no love lost between turks and arabs, but that is beside the point. A large part of the muslim world is not "arab". The exclusion of Turkey does not help in getting "west" and "east" any closer to each other. It just goes to show that no matter what a muslim country will do, the "west" will never accept it because the west hates Islam.

*probably indignant*
Turkey would take them all back if the immigrants were wiling to re-imigrate. In some cases this happens. Joining the EU might help making Turkey a wealthier place so that less ppl would want to leave now. I do not know and wonder how many turks currently would like to emigrate btw, I do not think it is that much.

I think it is a major mistake to treat Turkey as we currently do. Also, joining the EU is not the same as joining the EMU, so the economic differences are less relevant. Check Turkey against the lesser of the economies, and then realise that they have had substantial benefit from the EU already...
Umf

[Admiral]

Well, Romania and Bulgaria didn't get invited, or sort of got. There is a 2007 term set if the economical reforms go on and there is also a good thing that the rules of the game were set also, now, by the current members, so that there won't be problems from the newly admited in what regards our future admission.