Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-12-14-Speech-2-035"
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"en.20041214.5.2-035"2
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"Mr President, if we talk about the EU’s strategic and political guidelines, we will inevitably end up talking about Turkey. Even though Parliament, the Commission and the Council have failed to even make a start on a debate about Europe’s boundaries, accession negotiations will almost certainly be opened with Turkey, a non-European country, and one which, by the time it actually accedes, will have more than 80 million inhabitants. What fine strategic thinking that is!
We are still in the dark as to how much this accession will cost, never mind
will be footing the bill. It is a telling fact that a country such as the United Kingdom should be backing Turkey’s accession all the way, while at the same time refusing to budge on its rebate. The same is also true, in fact, of a number of other net contributors.
Substantial research has still not been done into the effects of immigration from Turkey. The EU is becoming ever more estranged from its people. We are told
that we must bring Europe closer to the citizen, but when push comes to shove, nothing is done. The Turkey issue is a perfect illustration of this. It is a perfect opportunity to ask the public for their opinion, and yet it is unlikely that a referendum will be held in any of the Member States. Commissioner Michel explained why that was when he was still Foreign Affairs Minister in Belgium. He said that a referendum about an issue of this kind would open a debate with vicious arguments about Islam, among other things, which would only play into the hands of Right-wing parties. According to him, our western democracies would not have the wherewithal to control and frame a public debate on subjects of that kind.
This anti-democratic creed is quite simply perplexing. We should in any event thank Mr Michel for his frankness. He has stated out loud what many of his fellow Commissioners are thinking privately. Europe has a serious problem where its democratic legitimacy, and its being held accountable, are concerned, and there looks to be no sign of improvement in the near future – quite the reverse, in fact."@en1
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