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Merkel: EU's Door Closing for Near Future
The European Union does not intend to admit new members "in the foreseeable future" other than those who have already begun adhesion discussions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday.
And since we've slow-rolled the talks with Turkey, they're out of luck.
One day after returning from a trip to Turkey, where the country again made clear its desire to become a member of the European Union, Merkel came out against rapid expansion of the bloc after Romania and Bulgaria join at the beginning of 2007.

"We currently have adhesion discussions with Croatia and with Turkey, but we also know that in the foreseeable future, we can't accept any other member states," Merkel said in her weekly video podcast, which outlined German priorities as rotating president of the EU in 2007.

Those priorities are expected to be discussed Wednesday in Berlin, during a meeting between the German government and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

During her six months as EU president Merkel said Germany would try to "make Europe closer to its citizens," by attempting to answer the "skeptical questions" Europeans are asking themselves about the union.

"Isn't there too much bureaucracy? Can Europe protect our security? Are we not out of our depth, because we can't clearly establish our borders?" the German chancellor asked, citing several such questions she want to answer.

She also urged Europe to delineate its borders, and called for open discussions with Turkey.

"The adhesion negotiation with Turkey should take place without any preconceived objective," Merkel said.
Ah, yes - the old "talk but no action" gambit. Turkey's been had by the Euros, big time. Unfortunately, while I agree with European concerns about admitting them to the Union, this will strengthen the hand of the fundamentalists I suspect.
Turkey's potential membership is a divisive issue within the 25-member block, and some countries are deeply skeptical about admitting the large and populous Muslim state. Merkel is one of the leading proponents of offering Turkey a '"privileged partnership" instead of full EU membership.
It's not a bad idea, but it's too little, way too late. They should never have held out the possibility of full membership if they weren't ready to follow through. A reasonable alternative which might have been embraced will now be seen as a serious insult.

Posted by: lotp 2006-10-08
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=168024