BRUSSELS - A report released by the Center for European Reform (CER) indicated that a large portion of the rightists in the EU wanted to exclude Muslim Turkey for cultural reasons while much of the leftists wanted to exclude Turkey for economical reasons.
The Center released the report on ``Democracy in Europe: How the EU can survive in an age of referendums?``.
``The fear of enlargement is growing in countries like Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands. Several lobbies have formed in the EU against further enlargement. Federalists fear that a wider Europe will be incapable of `deepening`. Much of the right wants to exclude Muslim Turkey for cultural reasons. Much of the left fears that cheap labor from the east will put blue-collar workers on the dole. Because enlargement creates economic winners and losers, it is forging new political alignments,`` Mark Leonard said in the report.
``Of course, it is referendums that have made the biggest difference to EU politics. In the future any move to widen or deepen the EU will require referendums. The next time a new treaty is negotiated, national leaders will find difficult not to put it to a popular vote. And France has changed its constitution, so that all future enlargements -- after Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia -- will be subject to a plebiscite. Austria has also pledged to hold a vote on Turkey`s accession,`` it said.
The report added, ``some countries have opted out the euro and the Schengen agreements. New members have been temporarily excluded from receiving full common payments (stemming from agricultural policy), and the free movement of labor. In the future, integration within the EU is likely to be driven by pioneer groups rather than treaties. A series of clubs, co-operating more closely for practical reasons rather than the ideology of ever-closer union, will drive integration in a series of different areas. As the EU enlarges, there could be an `a la carte` offer for new members. For example, Turkey is being threatened with `permanent safeguards` on the free movement of people, and could perhaps be forced to accept less than a pro-rata distribution of votes at the European Council. Equally, some new members could be excluded from the eurozone for many years, even if they wanted to join.``