cristiangherasim

When it comes to looking at Turkey from afar, preconceptions about a closed and over traditionalist country should be put to rest. What I found while travelling last month there was that the country is already European. There’s no great difference in lifestyles, the streets look more or less the same, people are multilingual and the economy is booming. The first thing you notice when coming from a south-eastern EU member state is the well developed system of motorways and construction projects springing up everywhere. The picture is even more compelling when you take into account Turkey’s 11 % economic surge in the first quarter, at a time when Europe struggles with political turmoil and bailouts. For some time now Turkey has been Eurasia’s rising tiger. With a hot economy, near-inexhaustible human resources and mounting clout as a hub of international gas and oil pipelines, Turkey stands in contrast with most neighbors in the European Union, especially Greece. Without doubt Turkey heads the region as the economic powerhouse, and that’s something Brussels should consider carefully: Without Turkey the EU will sink into mediocrity, writes in Die Welt, the former chancellor of Germany. Schroder goes on to say that Turkey’s vibrant economy will grow four times as much as the French and twice as much as the German economy in the coming years. Expecting Turkey to become forth biggest European economy in 20 years, Schroder argues that sidelining Turkey will be a grave mistake. However, letting Turkey in will boost the EU’s standings on the world stage, a scene less influenced by an ever shrinking European economy. The argument, seconded by another German high official- Westerwelle-increasingly isolated by his stance, is that only with enlargement will the EU be able to safeguard its economic might and influence.