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41. Decoding the Rise of Euroskepticism in Turkey

Author:
Mehmet Bardakçı
Publication Date:
10-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
Since 2004 there has been a dramatic drop in the support expressed by the Turkish public for the EU and the Turkish membership. Many factors were at work for this downward trend of Turkish people's perceptions of the EU including the Cyprus policy, the Armenian genocide claims, the EU's treatment of Turkey as a special case, vocal objections raised by the EU leaders as well as the public to Turkey's EU membership, the economic costs of the accession process, nationalist backlash as a result of the resumption of PKK terrorism, mutual rise in negative perceptions of the Muslim and Western world at large in the post-September 11 process. Therefore, amid growing anti-European sentiments in domestic politics it became increasingly difficult for the ruling AKP to sustain the EU reform agenda.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, and Armenia

42. Understanding the 'Absorption Capacity' of the European Union

Author:
Sercan Gidişoğlu
Publication Date:
10-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
This article offers an analysis of the large inventory of definitions proposed for 'the EU's capacity to absorb new members', by the EU institutions as well as scholars and Brussels-based public affairs companies. It also makes a comparison between 1993, when the term 'absorption capacity' (AC) is used for the first time in an official text, and the period from 2005 on, when this term reappeared frequently in European terminology and came to be defined with more precision. AC mainly refers to the capacity of the EU to absorb new members while functioning efficiently and maintaining the momentum of European integration. It has three main components: economic, political, and institutional absorption capacities. However, despite some consensus on its usage, the term remains ill-defined and misleading. To remedy this problem, the Commission recently replaced the term with the phrase 'integration capacity'. Nevertheless, further efforts should be made to clarify this concept, which is still being used in official texts without enough precision.
Topic:
Economics
Political Geography:
Europe and Brussels