Europa Europa

It's been fascinating to watch the lead-up to yesterdays decision by the EU to commence accession talks with Turkey. Deutsche Welle TV has been running a series of profiles on Turkey on various programs over the past few weeks, and Le Monde ran a profile of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan last week. It is clear that any eventual decision to bring Turkey into the EU fold will impact deeply the sort of community that the EU is destined to become.

Why is France so jumpy? Apparently, there is too much influence from market-driven Anglo-Saxon policies in Ankara. There is certainly concern in Paris that the French model of an intergrated Europe is losing influence as the EU expands. But in addition, there is the unvoiced concern and self-interest around religion, cultural difference and the potential threat to the French workforce...

As Euro-MP (and former Polish foreign minister) Bronislaw Geremek said this week in an online dialogue: "Une partie de l'opinion publique polonaise partage tout a fait la crainte des Francais. Il me semble que dans les deux cas, les raisons de la mefiance sont similaires. Il s'agit d'abord de l'etendue geographique et du potentiel demographique de la Turquie. Deuxiemement, c'est le probleme culturel et religieux. On craint que l'entree d'un grand pays musulman dans l'Union europeenne change la situation à l'interieur de l'Union et brise l'unite religieuse de celle-ci."

Indeed, despite the 'liberal' image that is often painted of EU nations, xenophobia and mistrust is never far from the agenda. . Will we ever see an EU that stretches from the west coast of Ireland to the border with Iran? Etnobofin watches with interest ...