Monday, April 6, 2009

Turkey in the EU? Sarkozy says "Non".

Obama has now set off on his love tour of Muslim countries telling them in advance how wonderful Islam is and how much it is valued in the US. Lots of folks back home do not seem to be entirely behind him on that one. Anyways, before leaving for his first port of call in Turkey, he told European leaders that they should admit Turkey to the EU as a way of demonstrating how much Europe also cared for Islam. He was immediately and sharply put in his place by Sarkozy who informed him that it was up to the European Union alone to decide on a country's membership. " I have always been opposed to this entry and I remain opposed" He added. France and Austria are committed to holding referenda on this issue. The idea of 100 million Turkish Muslims being part of the EU is not something that the majority of the French or Austrian public are terribly keen on. A no from either country would be a veto and the end of the story. Both Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy favour offering Turkey a special economic partnership. Sounds enough and fair to me which is what most Europeans, including the British who will not be allowed to express an opinion on the matter, probably think too.

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