Karel De Gucht: "No, Turkey does not belong in the EU"

I have my reservations about it. European history teaches us that can shift borders. An important part of Ukraine belonged to Poland for centuries. A particle - a few percent - Turkey can hardly be denied that it geographically belongs to Europe, situated as it is on our side of the Bosphorus. Even within that part of the Eurasian continent, which is undeniably European, its borders proved unstable over the centuries.

Think of the Oder-Neisse line between Germany and Poland. Or do we just think of Belgium, which often has in the past served as a bargaining chip in the struggle for power between the major European nation states. With natural boundaries we are stuck in the discussion about a possible Turkish membership of the European Union.

The EU does have limits. A country - or an integrated bloc of countries, including the EU - is not stable as it has no limits. The lack of boundaries creates uncertainty about the irreversibility of the European Union. In a recent essay, the Dutch political scientist Paul Scheffer speaks of 'the border as skin. But the European Union's borders are not physical;they are moral. The extent to which the European Union is integrated, does that you can not have two different views within the bloc about what a state. An authoritarian conception, sometimes described as a sovereign democracy does not mean having an open democracy.The authoritarian state organization has named traditional democratic institutions - a parliament, a government, a judiciary - but the power lies with the chief, the president.

Press freedom
Examples: ... Russia and Turkey. The press freedom exists in name only, but journalists risking ending up in prison if they are critical. In an open democracy, the press is the fourth power, make parliament and government, the political authority and is the judiciary independent. The sovereign and open democracy can not live in an EU that is responsible for three quarters of our legislation and affects almost every aspect of our lives. Turkey is currently hardly a democracy. Critical newspapers are 'taken' by the state, with the approval of the judiciary 'administrators' appoints; Journalists soon stand trial and risking life imprisonment because she had brought the Erdogan regime would speed lice weapons to Islamists in Syria and therefore "state secrets" were revealed to the outside; the judiciary is being misused politically. The day that the EU agreement on managing the migration concluded with Turkey, Erdogan said: "Democracy, freedom, justice ... for us to have these concepts no value anymore." Tusk Juncker, Rutte and Merkel with pants around their ankles. Not a pretty sight.

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http://www.hln.be/ By: Karel De Gucht Photo AFP