BY HASAN CEMAL
MILLIYET- The Economist magazine called Sunday's European Parliament elections 'the rich world's biggest election,' as there 375 million registered voters in 27 EU member countries. But who actually cares about them? This question comes from the polls' low turnout - 43%, the smallest in 30 years. Despite the EP's rising role and importance, it's treated indifferently, which isn't encouraging for the EU.
Another negative aspect is that national problems weigh heavily in these elections. The EU still has progress to make. Each EU member country first considers its own situation. When I was talking with a group of politicians, journalists and experts, a Liberal Democrat MEP said that the election results might make Turkey's EU membership bid harder, but that we should remember that MEP's views of Turkey are less important than those of the leaders of the 27 EU member states.
Here are the two most important results of the elections: (1) The socialists failed terribly, (2) Things are harder for Turkey now. Britain's ruling Labor Party in Britain and leftists in the Netherlands suffered defeats. Socialists and social democrats in France, Germany and Spain got fewer votes. Leftist parties lost everywhere, except for Greece. But the allies of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel did well at the ballot box, as did Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, despite the economic crisis and numerous scandals in Italy.
Why did the center-right in these three countries do so well, even though they're already the ruling parties? Perhaps the center-right inspires more public hope of overcoming the economic crisis, compared to socialists, and the leadership vacuum on the center-left continues. An editorial in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung spoke of the role of Merkel's 'social democratization' in her success. Another negative aspect, which shouldn't be overblown for Turkey, is that xenophobic, Islamophobic and extremist parties grew stronger in many EU countries, especially Britain and the Netherlands.
But there were two positive developments for Turkey, with the Greens and the Liberals. The Greens did well in Germany, France and Belgium. Germany's liberal Social Democratic Party, which generally favors Turkey's EU membership and is open to close ties with the US, won more votes. We should also recognize that the Greens and Liberals' good showing, despite the socialists' failure, could help the EP's 'Turkey front' keep its majority. So Turkey is still an issue and so it will remain.
It's clear that the ball is in our court now, especially on democratization, getting military-democratic and secularist-democratic relations back on track, and working to solve the Cyprus issue. A Brussels think-tank official said that what Turkey did in 2002-2004 was very important, but that things slowed down after 2005. This is exactly our problem. The EU doesn't like what it sees in Turkey now. We still have things to do. So we're being expected to revive our earlier enthusiasm. I know that some will question if the EU will accept us even if we do this. The important thing is to maintain Turkey's reformist path. Unless it takes this path, Turkey can't do what it needs for its own people.