1. What is your perception of the French political elite’s (French MEPs, President, PM) attitude to the current eastern enlargement and to Turkey in particular?
AL – There is a huge difference between the enlargement related to Eastern Europe and the Turkish case.
About Eastern Europe – and, to morrow, the Balkans – there are fears over job losses due to cheaper costs, and especially lower wages. But the examples of Spain and Portugal help reassuring the public opinion.
About Turkey, it is quite another matter. There is a deep sentiment against Turkish membership for two different reasons. Firstly, with all our difficulties in integrating even French citizens Moslems the prospect of welcoming 70 M more of them in the E.U. arouses anxiety and even anger. Secondly, if Turkey, whose 90% of the territory lies in Asia Minor, is deemed ‘European’ enough to join the European Union, that means that it will become politically impossible to object to any further application – from the Caucasus, Ukraine, the Middle East and North African countries, which would mean that the European Union would not have borders. And this clashes with what has been the French vision of Europe since the very beginning.
Lire la suite…