By Semih Idiz
Columnist Semih Idiz comments on the consequences of the referendum in France concerning the future of European Union (EU) and Turkey's EU bid, in its article entitled ''French People Say Non'', published in today's 'Milliyet' newspaper.
Idiz writes in his article that approximately 55 percent of the French voters have rejected the EU Constitution.
''The high participation of the French voters in the referendum shows that French people have taken the issue very seriously,'' says Idiz.
He comments on the possible consequences of the referendum as follows: ''If we look at the issue from the EU perspective, the result is a total disaster. Everybody was expecting that this Constitution would complete the evolution of the EU after Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice Treaties, and a big step would be taken to realize the dream of 'United States of Europe.' Now this dream has to be delayed and the 25-member EU has to work within the framework of its existing legal structure, despite all of its shortcomings.''
Idiz also comments on the impact of the French referendum on Turkey's EU bid from a different perspective and writes that ''In fact EU Constitution was heightening the 'bar' to meet the EU criteria for Turkey, which already had difficulties in meeting those criteria. On the other hand, as of today there will be a tendency --within the EU-- towards a structure based on national sovereignty (which we can call as the British model) rather than a supranational one, after the rejection of the EU Constitution by France. When we take into consideration the socio-economic and geostrategic realities of Turkey, it is obvious that such kind of Europe is more suitable for Turkey, at least in respect of Turkey's existing sovereignty understanding.''
Idiz concludes his article with a rather interesting comment saying that ''some French men and women who thought that rejection of the referendum also meant rejection of Turkey's EU bid, might even have served interests of Turkey (without being aware of it).''