Once again EU and Turkey reached a new agreement on the management of the migrants flow. The leaders of EU institutions, the Heads of State of all EU nations met over the weekend with the Turkish Prime Minister. It is not the first summit happening due to the ongoing crisis.
Turkey negotiated from a strong position and it demanded not only money but also a reopening of the negotiations for its membership to the EU.
As part of the agreement, the EU will offer Turkey a 3 billion euro aid package in the next to years and Turkish citizens will have a much easier access to EU countries where we will be able to travel without visa by October 2016. Last but not the least, negotiations for Turkey access to EU will be boosted.
While we should embrace Turkey to the European family ( after all, they are already members, they football teams play all UEFA football competitions and the Turkish teams are among the strongest teams in the European basketball Euroleague tournament, Turkey won’t access the EU any time soon.
First of all it takes years for an “average” country to join the bloc. Here when we talk about a bloc of nations, we do not refer here to a simple trade and economic but a political union with some its members even more closely united by having a common currency.
Second we all know that Turkey is not an avarage nation, is a unique country with an incredible story of dominance and power. It has unique features at par of a country like Iran. Turkey's economy is booming thanks to the work done by current president Erdogan who brought stability and a more widespread welfare among the poorest members of the society. At the same time, there are many worries over the democratic features of the country.
Erdogan imposed a top down style of government that somehow resembles Singapore. It is not surprising that many journalists are jailed ( a couple of very prominent ones were arrested few days ago) and there are a lot of criticisms over the status of human rights in the country. Said this, we need to partner with Turkey. No doubts.
With the UK renegotiating its relationships with the EU, what it is foreseeable is that in the near future there will be two group of nations within the EU: a first group will be at the core of the Union in a stronger than ever political union while others like UK and some Scandinavian and eastern countries will join the peripheral bloc.
Everybody knows this and even recently Junker, the President of the EU Commission, the executive branch of the Union recently reaffirmed the need for a so called two speeds Union.
The EU is already for many aspects a confederation if you look at how all the dimensions of a normal working sovereign state are already not only coordinated but in many instances “federated”. Yet there is work to be done to have a full functioning confederation that later on can be turned into a full federation.
What can be possible and foreseeable is that the negotiations between UK and EU will lead to a new Treaty, a sort of constitution but do not call it this way. The new revised Treaty would establish the governance for a core group of nations, those who have joined the euro currencies that will keep working towards a ‘closer union”, fully integrating their foreign and defense policies (discussions on EU army is no more a taboo and many are favorable to have a joint European army that builds on existing defense structures). At the same time the new treaty will envision a looser group of nations at the periphery that will resemble more a free economic trade area. Turkey, a too complex and right now “bossy” country could find space in this lesser union, provided it greatly enhances its democratic credential. On this regard, a lot of work must be done. Let the negotiations on Turkey membership restart. Surely they will have a positive spillover effect within Turkey. This is a positive enough outcome for now.
Find here the full statement following the summit
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2015/11/29-eu-tur...
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