Cooperating more closely with those countries who always were and most likely always will be in the openly pro-Turkey camp nevertheless makes sense as they over time could act as lobbyists in Turkey’s interests to convince the more reluctant group of nations opposing full membership today when it comes to showing support for Turkey’s full EU membership tomorrow.We should travel back in time to the era when the EEC was expanding, albeit at a very slow pace. There was skepticism expressed towards other future EU member states from the sides of existing member states, too. Spain is one such example.
Spain joined together with Portugal in 1986 after extended negotiations. The EEC had even demanded that the İberian Peninsula countries swallow the bitter pill that read on its label that free movement of people and workers from both countries would not enter into effect for another six years. Spain learned how to successfully negotiate with Brussels. Spain overcame all the related obstacles and is now a key EU member state. It faces all the consequences EU membership brings (for example a certain loss of sovereignty) while enjoying the benefits (a stronger Europe means a stronger Spain, too). Perhaps Spain could best be described as being a pro-active EU member state which has realized that Brussels does not have the remedies for all of today’s economic or political problems, including unemployment.
When Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Spain earlier this week he rightfully made comments about the relevance of Turkish-Spanish cooperation while not forgetting to address Brussels and its delaying tactics with regards to speeding up Turkey’s EU accession. What better place to make these comments than in an EU member state which not only fully endorses, but actively promotes, Turkey’s full EU membership.
The United Kingdom is an EU state that as we all know is not the happiest of members, but despite ongoing debates about whether to stay in it or leave it has never actually withdrawn its active membership. Let us assume it is not going to do so in the near future, either.
The United Kingdom will hold general elections some months from now, before the summer recess. The question about whether Turkey is going to join the EU and when has so far not featured in any of the political parties’ pre-election manifestos and publications. Following events in that country very closely, this does not imply that London belongs to the “privileged membership” camp. On the contrary, it continuously expresses its commitment to Turkey’s EU accession, and I do not foresee a change in the event of an election victory by the opposition.
Perhaps it would be a good diplomatic decision to let France and Germany continue their internal debates about which place Turkey should have in a future European Union while forming close alliances with Madrid and London to more quickly achieve this very goal.
Trade is always an indicator of open borders. Increased promotion of cross-border deals and improved levels of economic cooperation between Turkey and Spain and the UK is one option, bringing all three civil societies closer together. Spanish and British politicians from both the government and opposition parties should more frequently be invited to study Turkish politics on location, while their counterparts (both political and business communities) should travel to both countries more often. A key factor is to work not only with members of the various political groupings in the European Parliament but with national deputies from across the political spectrum. Although Brussels wishes that national parliaments didn’t have such enormous powers, having them as allies with regards to Turkey’s EU aspirations is no mistake.
