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Turkey’s EU negotiator makes sales pitch to Austrian skeptics
“We do not want special treatment, but rather an equal and fair approach to ongoing negotiations,” he said, stressing that his country won't become a burden to the union but would rather remove some of the burden. Bağış pointed out that Turkey, with a young, dynamic population, is the fastest growing economy in the EU and has become a key player in many issues ranging from energy to security.
“We are present in almost all European organizations with the exception of the EU,” he stated. In a carefully chosen location where the most skeptical public lives -- 95 percent of Austrians oppose Turkish candidacy according to one survey -- Turkey's chief negotiator made his sales pitch to convince the audience that the EU does in fact need Turkey as much as Turkey needs the EU.
He complained about the slow pace of negotiations and said, “We need to speed up the process as public support may be waning in Turkey.” Turkey has opened only 11 out of 35 policy chapters, and interestingly, only one chapter was successfully completed during the Austrian presidency.
The last five chapters Turkey opened had met opening benchmarks, and the government expects chapters on the environment, competition, social policy and employment to be opened soon.
Progress on EU reforms in last eight months
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Referring to former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's famous quote, he said, “It was about time to fear the fear itself.” The concern that Turkish workers will flock to the EU once the country becomes a full member is no longer true, he said. The country has transformed itself in the last seven years to become a major economy where per capita income jumped from $3,000 to over $10,000.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) soared to over $20 billion from a mere $1 billion seven years ago. The banking industry posted close to a $12 billion profit last year, when other major world banks were filing for bankruptcy or posting huge losses due to the global economic crisis. He recalled that Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates Turkey will have the third-largest economy after China and India by 2017.
Bringing to mind the 1683 siege of Vienna by Ottoman Turks to overly skeptical Austrians, Bağış said, “We come in peace.” He emphasized that this is a “win-win” situation for both sides and warned that the bloc can't be a global player without Turkey's help.
Bağış reiterated his views that Turkey will become a member when both the EU and Turkey are ready. However, he dismissed the argument that Turkey will be an exception despite pressure brought by some EU member states. “We won't waiver from full-fledged membership,” he underlined.
“My job, along with other members of the Cabinet, is to prepare my country for full EU membership. You need to prepare your country for when our country is a member,” he told the audience.
Bağış also noted that Muslims in Europe need a role model, especially for the younger generation, and asked whether the governments of EU countries want to have terrorist Osama bin Laden as a role model or Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government is very much committed to the market economy, full-fledged democracy and improved human rights.
“The EU's message to Turkey will also be carefully monitored and analyzed by billions of Muslims worldwide in that context,” he stressed.
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