TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna writes on the formation of the European Union and its present power. A summary of his column is as follows:
At the end of World War II (1939-1945), Germany was destroyed and France which was among the victorious nations had lost almost everything. (In my mind the most important defeat is that while French was the international language up to the 1940s, after that it was displaced by English.) In the light of the German-French dispute sparking two world wars in 25 years, following the terrible war of 1870, France began to think over the matter. The idea to form the nucleus of the European Union came from the French. To Prime Minister Schumann’s project, Chancellor Adenauer, who founded modern Germany, responded positively. They formed the nucleus of the European Union by taking Italy and the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) among them. The greatest concern of de Gaulle was the union of the two Germanies and a consequent upsetting of the balance in Europe. He was planning on having a few independent German states. However, eventually the two Germanies united and became the strongest member of the European Union. The European states did not adopt the idea of the Union very easily. In Austria, entrance to the Union was accepted through a referendum with only 52% of the votes. In Norway, entrance to the Union was rejected only by 1% of votes. Great Britain hesitated a great deal, and has not even accepted the euro as yet. The 70% rate seen in public opinion polls in Turkey is the highest rate ever seen in the EU states. However, Turkey is neither Austria nor Norway or Britain. While we were bickering among ourselves for 210 years, they took their places under the sun. As the members of a civilization never satisfied with the rate of prosperity they had achieved, they discussed the European Union.
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION