EU deciding its own future

By Yusuf Kanli
TDN- The EU Commission's 30 members will not be deciding today only on Turkish membership but at the same time craft the future shape of the EU. It's now the EU's turn to show how sincere it is on Turkey's membership and to convert itself into a multi-cultural and multi-religious block
After a final session this morning on the thorny "Turkey" dossier, the 30 commissioners of the European Union will unveil their assessment report and a recommendation on the opening of accession talks with the Ankara government.
After more than 40 years knocking on the door, the EU Commission will finally answer Turkey today. The central question we hope will not be whether Turkey should join but instead how easy its path to membership should be and -- though we do not want to see any such a development -- whether the membership process be subjected to special review conditions.
The commission's report, though most Turks would like to get a definitive and clear cut one, is likely to be a rather vague and fall short of meeting the expectations of both the "Turkey-bashing" group as well as those EU members who sincerely believe it's in the very best interest of the block to let Turkey in at some date. For sure, whatever might be the wording of the commission's recommendation, the Ankara government will find some elements that would allow it to declare a major success towards the eventual EU accession of the country.
The statement of the commission will demonstrate how serious the EU is on Turkey's membership. A clear recommendation, as Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen declared recently will be so, would stress that Turkey has fulfilled compliance with the Copenhagen political criteria and that the commission was recommending the EU Council, which will meet on Dec. 17, to open accession talks with Turkey "without further delay."
"Without further delay" is the crucial part of the sentence and apparently Verheugen is under intense pressure particularly by the French to omit it and leave the timing of the start of talks to EU leaders. As the 2002 Copenhagen summit already decided that talks would be launched with Turkey should the commission report that the Ankara government has complied with the Copenhagen criteria, it would not make much difference if the commission omits that crucial element in its recommendation. However, if the commission includes a set of "ifs" and "buts" in its recommendation and if these really introduce a "separate treatment" of Turkey, it would be difficult to say the commission acted in sincerity and honesty.
We must understand the difficulty of Europe in deciding on Turkish membership because of the combined impact of Turkey's population, size, geographical location, economic, security and military potential -- not to mention its Muslim yet secular identity -- on the very shape of Europe.
That's why we say the EU Commission's 30 members will not be deciding today only on Turkish membership but at the same time craft the future shape of the EU. It's now the EU's turn to show how sincere it is on Turkey's membership and to convert itself into a multi-cultural and multi-religious block.