Guenter Verheugen has long been a strong supporter of Turkish membership and worked hard for its candidacy as enlargement commissioner from 1999 to 2004. His mandate as the vice president of the EU Commission and the European commissioner for enterprise and energy since 2004 ended earlier this week.
“This attitude is pure populism, and it is dangerous because just the opposite is demanded of statesmen and women,” Verheugen said in an interview with the German Press Agency dpa on Wednesday, in an apparent reference to the idea of privileged membership, which has been proposed by German and French leadership, instead of full-fledged EU membership on the grounds that Turkey will not be a part of the Western world and will fail to adopt Western values.
That proposal is “fake packaging” because Turkey already has a privileged relationship with the EU, Verheugen said.
“Mrs. [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel and Mr. [French President Nicolas] Sarkozy regularly duck the question of what more they want to give Turkey short of membership. Turkey already has a customs union with the EU; it’s already associated with it -- there is no more privileged partner state than Turkey,” Verheugen said.
“How should a Turkish government convince society that they should carry out a fundamental change in their entire way of life when it hears from all kinds of European capitals: Do what you like, you’re not Christian and you belong to a different cultural sphere?” Verheugen also asked, when reminded of certain European politicians’ approach of putting the blame on Turkey for slowing down the EU reform process.
