Portugal rejects major EU debate on Turkey

[Strengthandhonour]

Portugal rejects major EU debate on Turkey

June 28 2007 at 01:21PM
Portugal, which becomes European Union president this weekend, does not plan to hold a major debate this year on the EU's borders and particularly Turkish membership, as requested by France.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, State Secretary for European Affairs, Manuel Lobo Antunes, said France was within its rights to raise the issue but that Portugal thinks the EU should now focus on finalising its "reform treaty".

"France has every right to say that we should discuss enlargement, the whole issue of borders and Turkey," he said. "But it's also a presidency's right to give its opinion."

"We believe that at this stage we should be concentrating on the treaty and that we should try to ensure that we come up with a solution... by December," he said. "After that of course we can start to tackle other important issues."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that Turkey does not have a place in the EU and has called for wide debate on the bloc's future enlargement in December, just before Portugal ends its six-month presidency, starting July 1.

Portugal is organising an intergovernmental conference, starting on July 23, to draw up the EU's new "reform treaty", which was agreed after a marathon summit last week and will replace the old constitution.

source: IOL: Portugal rejects major EU debate on Turkey

[dime]

turkey should be the last country to join the EU

[Monolith]

Originally Posted by dime

turkey should be the last country to join the EU

I hope Turkey never becomes the EU member state.
I applaud Portugal's decision to keep them at bay.

[Sturmwaffen]

Good for Portugal. It's nice to know at least one nation in Europe isn't dominated by the behemoth of Islam.

Originally Posted by dime

turkey should be the last country to join the EU

Turkey should NEVER join the EU.

There are enough...no...too many muslims in Europe as it is. If Turkey were to become a member of the EU, that would mean the death of the European people and culture.

It wouldn't surprise me if sooner or later they try to incorporate Israel into the EU.

The current status of my homeland digusts me.

[Menydh]

Either that South African news site understood it wrongly, or there have been contradictory statements by Portugal.

It is actually the opposite, that Portugal has vowed to support Turkey's bid. As reported by the BBC on a news article from the same date:

BBC NEWS | Europe | Portugal defends Turkey\'s EU bid

At present the issue is divided into two parties.

On the one hand there is the party of pro-Atlantists/Westernists, that support the entry of Turkey, like Britain, Poland, Portugal and Greece.

On the other hand there is Belgium, France, Germany and Austria, that are firm opposers to Turkey's entry.

I'm not sure about Italy. The government would be pro-Atlantist, but polls there suggest that there is a strong enough rejection to Turkey's bid.

Spain I'm afraid that the government will lean towards supporting Turkey's entrance. Not because of pro-Atlantism (that too even when the current government has been at odds with the US since it came to office), but because of Zapatero's anti-American best bid has been a support for a retarded agenda on his "alliance of civilizations", which Erdogan has endorsed when virtually no one else did probably forseeing a moment like the present.

The polls reported on this news item from a Turkish newspaper I think that come from the online Harris-Polls. Not reliable in my opinion, but nonetheless interesting to read:

People in four countries belonging to the European Union (EU) oppose Turkey's potential entry, according to a poll by Harris Interactive published in the Financial Times. 71 percent of respondents in France, 66 percent in Germany, and 55 percent in Italy believe Turkey should not be invited to join the continental group.

Opposition to Turkey's eventual accession reaches 46 percent in both Britain and Spain, and 13 percent in the United States.
In January, Romania and Bulgaria became the last two countries to join the EU. In October 2005, Croatia and Turkey began accession talks, but neither country has been confirmed as an official future member. At least 40 percent of respondents in the five EU countries surveyed oppose a further enlargement of the 27-member group.
The polls were conducted in the form of online interviews with 6,169 adults in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United States between May 31 to June 12, 2007. The margin of error was 3 percent.

On Jun. 13, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema expressed Italy's support for Turkey's bid to join the EU during a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. D'Alema declared: "I am convinced that the best way to avoid that in this country an Islamism which is foreign to the tradition of modern Turkey prevails or that an anti-European, regressive nationalism takes hold, is for Europe to open up to Turkey. (...) We are here to convey a message to all political forces and most of all to the public opinion: dialogue must continue in view of a possible, if not upcoming, integration of Turkey in Europe."

The New Anatolian

Here is a shot of Harris Poll on June 18, 2007:

source: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/allnewsbydate.asp?NewsID=1228

Hopefully strong disagreement over Turkey's entry will provoke a crisis in the European Union.

[swordjumper]

Turkey has a HUGE young population , almost all of which want to migrate to the West . Here in Britain we are constantly being told by our politiitians that we need more and more young migrants to keep our economy buoyant . Why we are unable train out of work Britons to perform this task seems not to be an issue for them .
I know Turkey well and like the Turks I have met . I admire their patriotism and the devotion they show to their families , but the fact is they are not and never can be European . EU membership would be as much a disaster for Turkey as for the West . It must never be allowed to happen !

[Franze]

Watching that in Spain and Britain the most enthusiastic countries with the adhesion of Turkey, the populations is against the adhesion, it gives me hope.

[Caradoc]

Originally Posted by swordjumper

Turkey has a HUGE young population , almost all of which want to migrate to the West . Here in Britain we are constantly being told by our politiitians that we need more and more young migrants to keep our economy buoyant . Why we are unable train out of work Britons to perform this task seems not to be an issue for them .
I know Turkey well and like the Turks I have met . I admire their patriotism and the devotion they show to their families , but the fact is they are not and never can be European . EU membership would be as much a disaster for Turkey as for the West . It must never be allowed to happen !

agreed this is just shear madness, theres nothing to gain for either parties, the turks european? never! then every non-european nation wants to join, its the EUROPEAN UNION not euroasianafrican union, by the gods!! don't they ever use their brains down in Brussels

[Menydh]

Somewhere else I've read that Portugal is not going to raise the issue of Turkey during its presidency of the E.U.

[Gromoljut]

I just hope that Slovenia doesn't screw Europe over during it's presidency next year

[Menydh]

No special shame in it. Screwing things is what everyone does there.

[Gromoljut]

Yes, I know, but still ... I wouldn't like my country to be remembered for having anything to do with the islamization of Europe or with the worsening of Europe's immigration problems. We probably won't be remembered anyway (or we'll get mixed up with the Slovaks)

[Errigal]

The problem is that every country in Europe has a set of politicians who would happily let Turkey (or any other country) into the EU. It is only the public that stops them.

[Caradoc]

yes here too but the overwelming majority is against turkey joining the EU, and they know it if they vote for turkey joining the EU one day its bye bye to them at the next elections so they wil not do that, polititians are more concerned about staying in power then to anger the populace, thats the only thing that stands in the way of turkey joining the EU, so the people have spoken and they bloody well pay attention what the normal everyday hardworking european has to say, otherwise the EU just another dictatorship.