The German governmental junior party CSU requests at its party congress a full stop of the EU accession talks with Turkey because the applicant country is not fulfilling democratic standards yet. Cemal Karakas, Turkey expert with the PRIF, criticizes the CSU for their populist request. “It is true, that Turkey is not meeting the democratic standards of the EU yet, but the suspension of the accession talks would create a setback for the democratization process.”
Instead of full membership the German Christian democratic parties favourites the concept of Privileged Partnership. Promoters of this concept promise Turkey enhanced cooperation in certain areas. Karakas: “However, such forms of partnership already exist: Turkey has been attached to the EU via the Customs Union since 1996 and has participated for several years in EU programmes for research and development, environment, the twinning programme to modernise administration, and Erasmus, the exchange programme for students. The pattern for Turkey’s role in this relationship is always: decision-shaping: yes; decision-making: no. Turkey and the EU member states quite rightly have therefore rejected the Privileged Partnership.”
Cemal Karkas supports the integration concept of Gradual Integration: “Gradual Integration is largely geared toward the current EU rules for accession candidates and is more credible than the Privileged Partnership. It provides for a step-by-step approach of integrating Turkey into the European structures and implies a partial integration, concentrating on the transfer of power and legal rules in relevant areas. It constitutes – in contrast to other models – a dynamic approach in which the different degrees of integration can be achieved step by step. Moreover, Gradual Integration gives Turkey the right to co-decide in questions regarding Turkey and respects its status as an accession candidate, i.e. the prospect of accession is fully preserved. This is a key for Turkey.”
For further information please contact Cemal Karakas
by phone : +49 69 / 95 91 04 -45 or via cell phone: +49 1 51 / 19 45 40 86
oder via e-mail to karakas@hsfk.de