Ukraine and Turkey as buffers

[Ulysses]

Here's one politician's view:


Commissioner: Turkey should be buffer outside EU
Top officials meet Turkish FM on entry bid

Compiled by Daily Star staff

Dutch EU Commissioner Frits Bolkestein wants Turkey kept outside the European Union as a buffer against Syria, Iran and Iraq, the Financial Times said on Monday. But his spokesman denied this was his position.
The newspaper said Bolkestein▓s views were spelled out in a new book, The Limits of Europe, in which he argues a geographically overstretched Europe would become ⌠little more than a glorified customs EU.■
Bolkestein▓s spokesman, Jonathan Todd, said the book was based on interviews with members of the European Parliament and Bolkestein had summarized their views rather than expressed his own.
⌠This is in context of those (parliamentarian▓s) views on the subject. They are not his own views ┘ He referred to the fact that (Turkish) membership of the EU was a very long-standing commitment on the part of the EU, dating back to the 1960s,■ Todd told a briefing.
Turkey which has been knocking at the door of the EU bloc for decades is the only candidate country yet to start formal accession talks, partly because it is not deemed to have met European Union standards on political freedoms and human rights.
EU governments are due to decide in December whether to open negotiations with Ankara.
On Monday, top EU officials met with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to discuss Turkey▓s membership bid and troubled talks in Cyprus aimed to bring about an end to the island▓s 30-year division.
Gul met with EU policy chief, Javier Solana, Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen and Bernard Bot, the Dutch foreign minister *members of the so-called EU troika that represents the eu. Ireland holds the rotating, six-months EU presidency, which the Netherlands will take over later this year.
Guenther Verheugen, the EU commissioner in charge of enlargement, was also present.
Bolkestein wrote that the former Soviet republics of Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine also should be excluded to form a buffer between Europe and Russia.
⌠In the east, there is a geopolitical need for a buffer zone between the EU and Russia, which might be formed by the countries that do not belong to either bloc,■ he wrote.
He added a similar buffer would be advantageous ⌠in order to cushion the EU against Syria, Iran and Iraq.■
Chief commission spokesman Reijo Kemppinen said Bolkestein had not said he opposed Turkish membership, and was thus fully in line with the European Union executive▓s line.
A senior EU official said it was too late to prompt a debate on excluding Turkey from membership since the bloc had officially recognized it as a candidate in 1999.
Meanwhile, the prime minister of Luxembourg was quoted on Monday as saying he believed Turkey would entry talks with the European Union in the first half of 2005, when he holds the bloc▓s rotating presidency.
Luxembourg, the smallest of the current 15 EU member states and a founder member, has traditionally been seen as unfavorable to Turkey▓s membership of the EU.
⌠I think the idea of giving a date for negotiations will be accepted in the European Council (of EU leaders). When Luxembourg has the rotating presidency in the first half of next year, the talks begin,■ Luxembourg▓s Premier Jean-Claude Juncker told the Hurriyet daily.
But Juncker also said entry negotiations would be lengthy and difficult, especially on economic issues. Agencies

[GeorgeHarris]

Don't worry. As you see, even if these people said things like that in the past, now they have no chance but to deny it.

Turkey is coming really strong. Both Turkey and Ukraine have to deal with the corruption and undertake reforms for the foreign investment and further technological improvements. And these should be done not to become members to the EU but for their own well being and people.

Regards,

GH

[happy_gunner]

Originally posted by Ulysses

He added a similar buffer would be advantageous ⌠in order to cushion the EU against Syria, Iran and Iraq.■

Translation: He doesn't want those flea-bitten wogs sharing a border with the EU.

Interesting post Ulysses, none of Bolkestein's sentences contained an actual opinion about a concrete, real life issue; instead just dumb platitudes about buffers and cushions.

He should stick to standardising the permissable angle of curve of bananas.

[Ulysses]

I can't understand why some politicans in EU countries are afraid of Eastern Europeans joining the EU. If anything, they are what is needed to turn the EU into a dynamic block.You can look at the transformation of Ireland for example. At the moment it enjoys a Per Capita GDP higher than Germany!

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/eco_gdp_cap

Originally posted by happy_gunner

Translation: He doesn't want those flea-bitten wogs sharing a border with the EU.

Interesting post Ulysses, none of Bolkestein's sentences contained an actual opinion about a concrete, real life issue; instead just dumb platitudes about buffers and cushions.

He should stick to standardising the permissable angle of curve of bananas.