Relations between Turkey, France and EU.
Franco-Turkish relations have a long history, as a result of which there is a certain stereotype of perception of each other. Both countries are traditionally considered international leaders with common problems. In 2015, the volume of exports from France to Turkey amounted to about 7.1 billion euros. With this indicator, France ranks sixth in the list of major suppliers of products to Turkey with a market share of about 4%. So Franco-Turkish relations have never been unambiguous. One of the controversial issues is Turkey's desire to become an equal member of the EU. Over the past forty years, the French position on Turkey's EU membership has fluctuated from moderately negative to sharply negative. France was concerned that if Turkey joined the European Union, it would have to face the onslaught of a powerful immigration wave. At the same time, the French population were afraid of "Islamic influence", especially after the terrorist attacks in the US on September 11, 2001, and the riots in France in 2005. At the same time, mutual rapprochement is hampered by a number of political and economic risks. A significant obstacle on the way to the European Union is the structure of the Turkish economy, the continuing macroeconomic instability, and social uncertainty. Additional negative factors were the unresolved foreign policy problems of Turkey and competition for EU membership from the other European States. From all these fact, France and Turkey have a distorted perception of each other, which creates the impossibility of building common prospects. However, no matter how complicated these relations are, there is a political advantage on both sides to meet each other.
Turkey is a key country in the Middle East, having its voice in international politics and sufficient economic growth. The adoption of Turkey will be a significant impetus for the development of the EU market due to the dynamism, high domestic demand, the culture of entrepreneurship of the Turkish population and the effect of trade liberalization. Turkey's integration into European business will bring new jobs, competitive prices and investment opportunities to EU citizens. The country with a population of 74 million is an important market for the European Union in terms of investment and consumer goods. If we take into account the acceleration growth of the Turkish economy after the country's accession to the EU, the increase in demand for these types of goods will provide European firms with a lot of new opportunities.
Certainly, Turkey cannot be idealized: high inflation and unemployment, the issue of recognition of Cyprus and the Armenian genocide, the number of political prisoners in the country. These factors weaken Turkey in the international arena. However, they are not critical and the obvious benefits for the EU from Turkey's entry are much greater. The key point in Turkish-European relations is the market policy. Although Ankara has committed to trade liberalization, it has followed a policy of import substitution. This was contrary to the EU community's strategy of establishing a free trade area, free movement of capital and labor among member countries. The Turkish politicians, not agreeing with the economic conditions of the EEC, slowed down the pace of integration, considering competition unnecessary and premature for the country's industry. Representatives of the largest industrial enterprises began to call for amendments to the additional protocol in order to exclude from it the prospect of creating a Customs Union. The EU Community fixed import quotas received by Turkey and Ankara froze its obligations under the Agreement and did not comply with the regime of reducing customs duties. In addition, the quota system has placed Turkey's imports in a dependent position in terms of countries and product range. Nevertheless, on January 1, 1976 Ankara reduced customs duties and harmonized the list of non-taxable goods in accordance with the additional protocol.
Thus, no one wants to take the blame for the failure of the show and prefers to have it covered by the other side. However, the downside of political indecision is the regular flashes of conflict arising from the need for one or the other party to be responsible for the periodic demonstration of reality.
At the end of last week, 479 parliamentarians supported this call, 37 voted against it and 107 abstained. This decision of the confident majority was a kind of reaction of the European Parliamentarians to the mass repressions deployed by Erdoğan against dozens of his own citizens suspected of involvement in the coup attempt against him, as well as the readiness of Ankara to return the death penalty. According to the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, if the death penalty is reinstated in Turkey, the negotiations on membership will be stopped altogether.