Thanks to his speech, we've understood that France still thinks that the European Union is an alliance between France and Germany. He claimed that the Lisbon Treaty can be effective only if France and Germany act together, and he argued that other member states must support France and Germany's common decisions in the future. We will ignore whether the other 25 member states are informed of this request and, if they are, whether they have accepted it or not. All we know is that Romanian, Hungarian and Slovakian academics who were listening to Mr. Lellouche with us didn't give the impression that their countries agree on that.Mr. Lellouche has pointed out four fundamental challenges the EU faces: environmental problems, energy issues, illegal immigration and common foreign and security policy. Yet, these issues cannot be dealt with only by France and Germany's joint decisions; the global system's main players, regional powers and the EU's neighbors must do their part. Besides, the lack of compromise between EU members on these subjects is palpable. There is even some sort of rivalry between member states who incessantly try to surpass each other.
According to Mr. Lellouche, one must resist a probable US-China condominium that can try to rule over the world. While the French minister seemed angry with the US, he suggested that Russia is still not a trustworthy partner and that the EU must have a bigger role in world affairs. He believes that the EU's only friend is the EU itself and that France trusts Germany as a partner more than any other country.
This approach stipulates that in order to get a more powerful EU, all member states must gather around the France-Germany axis. Consequently, any enlargement that can put in danger this structure must be avoided. Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Albania are probably considered small enough as to not disturb the French-German axis, but Turkey appears to be a country not acceptable within the EU in this context. What is odd is that France and Germany, while they do not want Turkey in the EU, don't stop asking favors from Ankara.
Mr. Lellouche has asked for close cooperation concerning these four fundamental challenges. So, Turkey must contribute to Europe's energy security and resource diversification, must raise its environmental standards without receiving EU funds, must fight illegal immigration and must support the EU in international security missions. All these without becoming an EU member. Will it be clear enough if we put the question as follows: Why would Turkey want to cooperate with the EU if it refuses Turkey's accession? Why would it choose France as a partner instead of developing its bilateral relations with, for example, the UK, Spain or Poland? Besides, these four major issues are also important for the US, so Turkey can choose to cooperate solely with Washington, too. The French minister's approach envisages making Turkey a buffer zone between the EU and the rest of the world. This vision will not improve the France-Turkey relationship, will damage the EU's credibility and will make Turkish people quite angry. Because of these kinds of approaches, Turkey has become very suspicious about all cooperation proposals emanating from certain European countries.
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