Initiative for Europe Handbook 2008

INITIATIVE FOR EUROPE
No Turkey without “Copenhagen”
What the French President Nicolas Sarkozy tried to emphasize during his election
campaign is backed up by a signature gathering campaign with roots in the new EU member
states of central and eastern Europe. The “Voice for Europe” Initiative focuses on the question
of further EU-enlargement, notably with Turkey, writes Daniella Csizmadia and Jan Wójcik.
At the European Council meeting in Copenhagen on the 12th and 13th of December 2002, the
decision was taken that in December 2004 the Council would evaluate Turkey’s application for EU
membership and on the basis of the European Commission’s recommendation decide whether to
open accession negotiations or not. The condition for opening negotiations was Turkey’s fulfilment
of the political criteria of Copenhagen, including the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy,
the rule of law, human rights, respect for and protection of minorities - the basic requirement for all
applicant countries.
Before the European Council summit on 17th December 2004, the Commission published a country
report on Turkey in which a number of human rights violations, in particular regarding ethnic and
religious minorities, were listed. Nonetheless, the European Commission concluded that Turkey had
“sufficiently” fulfilled the criteria and recommended opening the negotiations.
This political decision has serious consequences for the integration, security and prosperity of the EU,
as well as for the stability of its political institutions.
The 2005 Eurobarometer, a survey conducted by the Commission, clearly showed that 52% of EU
citizens were opposed to Turkey’s EU membership. However, the citizens’ views on EU enlargement
were not taken into consideration in this political process.
For the above-mentioned reasons, plus a wide range of other concerns regarding Turkey’s suitability for
EU membership, and with the aim of ensuring democratic decision- making on this important issue,
several European civil organizations and individuals decided to establish a pan-European movement
and launch a campaign on 9th May 2005. The goal of the campaign was to block the launch of negotiations
with Turkey planned to take place on 3rd October 2005 and to search for an alternative form
of cooperation with Turkey other than full EU membership.
Putting pressure on the EU to strictly apply the Copenhagen criteria also for Turkey
The original goal of the campaign was to use a democratic tool to collect 1 million signatures
through a petition and block the commencement of negotiations with Turkey on 3rd October 2005.
We also intended to raise the awareness of European citizens about the controversial facts surrounding
the issue of EU enlargement with Turkey and get them actively involved in shaping the future of
Europe.
We planned to expand our network of civil organizations which share similar aims and concerns in
countries where we had no established contacts. In this way we wished to gain wider support from
European citizens.
An equally important part of our goal was to reach out to the European political decision makers in
order to make them listen to and take European public opinion into consideration and allow European
citizens to play a role in the enlargement process
Despite our efforts the negotiations were officially opened on the 3rd /4th October 2005 after which
we had to redefine our main goal. The new aim now is to work as a monitoring group and put pressure
on the EU to strictly apply the Copenhagen criteria also for Turkey, and/or stop the negotiations.
Instead, a new framework for future cooperation between the EU and Turkey should be set. We
suggest that a special partnership status, still to be defined, would be a more suitable and fruitful way
of cooperation.
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