Turkey and the EU:
Rethinking a Multifaceted Relationship
Interdisciplinary Workshop
Hosted by Tilburg University, Netherlands
21-22 September 2012
About the Workshop
It has been almost 50 years since the European Economic Community and Turkey signed the Ankara
Association Agreement that was supposed to pave the way to full Turkish membership to today’s EU.
Yet, Turkey’s candidate status for membership was approved finally in 1999 and accession negotiations started only in 2005. Moreover, soon after the negotiations faced a stalemate due to Turkey’s refusal to extend the Turkish-EU customs union to the Republic of Cyprus and the EU’s resulting refusal to negotiate accession chapters with regard to internal market. Recent policy developments imply that if Turkish accession is taken seriously, the EU needs to find new strategies to re-energise the accession talks.
Association Agreement that was supposed to pave the way to full Turkish membership to today’s EU.
Yet, Turkey’s candidate status for membership was approved finally in 1999 and accession negotiations started only in 2005. Moreover, soon after the negotiations faced a stalemate due to Turkey’s refusal to extend the Turkish-EU customs union to the Republic of Cyprus and the EU’s resulting refusal to negotiate accession chapters with regard to internal market. Recent policy developments imply that if Turkish accession is taken seriously, the EU needs to find new strategies to re-energise the accession talks.
Turkey’s role as a Muslim ‘leader of democracy’ renders her a natural partner to western forces to speak to the increasingly western-sceptic peoples of the Middle East, particularly in the wake of the Arab Spring. Likewise, due to its geopolitical position Turkey is seen an indispensable partner for European energy security. The EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Štefan Fühle, speaking on Turkish-EU relations, pointed out that ‘the EU has…repeatedly underlined the importance of progress in the normalisation of relations between Turkey and all European Union Member States, including Cyprus’.
Nevertheless, there are significant reasons to doubt whether it is realistic to expect a revitalisation in Turkish-EU relations
in the near future. The AKP government in Turkey is going through a confidence boost due to Turkey’s impressive economic performance as the world 17th economy and the party’s recent third consecutive election victory. Consequently,
the Turkish government perceives its relationship with the EU more and more as one between equals. This perception does not sit comfortably with the regular dynamics of accession. Likewise, although the EU has been ‘a vocal and often successful advocate for democratization’ in candidate countries (Kubicek 2011), it seems to have lost its leverage over the Turkish political system as illustrated in the 2010 constitutional reform experience. Finally, a number of EU Member States, most notably Austria, France and Germany, remain sceptical of Turkish EU membership due to sociopolitical reasons and campaign for an alternative privileged association framework.
in the near future. The AKP government in Turkey is going through a confidence boost due to Turkey’s impressive economic performance as the world 17th economy and the party’s recent third consecutive election victory. Consequently,
the Turkish government perceives its relationship with the EU more and more as one between equals. This perception does not sit comfortably with the regular dynamics of accession. Likewise, although the EU has been ‘a vocal and often successful advocate for democratization’ in candidate countries (Kubicek 2011), it seems to have lost its leverage over the Turkish political system as illustrated in the 2010 constitutional reform experience. Finally, a number of EU Member States, most notably Austria, France and Germany, remain sceptical of Turkish EU membership due to sociopolitical reasons and campaign for an alternative privileged association framework.
In the midst of these centripetal and centrifugal forces in Turkish-EU relations, we aim to take stock of the enlargement process and shine much-needed light on different aspects of Turkey’s EU accession. In previous accession negotiations the EU has been both ‘the main catalyst and constraining factor’ in regional integration (Bechev 2006). On this basis we aim to disentangle the Turkish-EU relations to detect what both sides can gain from accession and what reform steps have to be taken – both in Ankara and Brussels – to revitalise the Turkish accession talks.
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