2/7/24, 2:41 PM Comment on "Turkey and Europe: Louis Michel's point of view".

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Comment on "Turkey and Europe: Louis

Michel's point of view".
https://soundcloud.com/ecours/133-ok

Louis Michel was the of Foreign Affairs Minister of Belgium from 1999 up to 2004, then a European
Commissioner from 2004 to 2009 before becoming a Member of the European Parliament once again. In
this television interview, we are asking him why he supports a Turkish accession to the European Union as
it would be an "obedience to Islam".

In that case the religious dimension is taken into account. In fact, this criterion is never used but only for
Turkey, since that a large number of European countries are populated by minority or majority Muslims
(like Bosnia and Herzegovina or Albania that are not members right now but are intended to become
such).

Louis Michel asserts that the founding forefathers did not take into account the geographical or religious
criteria. As a matter of fact, as France joined the European Coal and Steel Community, Algeria was still part
of the national territory. Moreover, the Schuman declaration of 1950 (link) raises the necessary European
commitment to Africa.

The European treaty is more ambiguous. It states that "all European countries may ask to become a
member" without any accompanying definition. Nevertheless, the European States seem to have settled
the issue as the accession negotiations started back in 2005.

Louis Michel asserts that we "are European when we respect the values of the market economy as well as
the democratic values". In this, he is right since the "criteria of Copenhagen", decided in 1993, indicate
essential elements to a membership: democratic values, market economy, respect for the European law.
The Copenhagen criteria also mention "the absorption capacity", which is a trickier component.

Then the Member of Parliament points out that the European Union needs Turkey. Not only, the refusal of
its accession might feed the Islamist attitude there, but Turkey played an important role in NATO
throughout the Cold War against the USSR. Unlike the political characters that defend geographical or
cultural criteria, he calls for a strategic vision of an enlarged Europe.

Unlike the United Kingdom, which is unmistakably European but still hesitates to envision its future with
the EU, Turkey seemed a country with a somewhat of disputable Europeanness for a long time, but was
really willing. All this proves that the European Union is a community with values, will, and a regional
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