EU's Hypocrisy

The EU's hypocrisy

Faced with popular opposition to Turkish membership, the European Union is set to tighten conditions for entry at its summit in Brussels, which opens today. "The better the EU member states are prepared, the smoother the EU functions after enlargement," Olli Rehn, the enlargement commissioner, told the European Parliament yesterday. That is a bit rich coming from a union which, in 2004, accepted a divided Cyprus into its ranks. Accession took place just eight days after the Greek southern part of the island had overwhelmingly rejected a United Nations plan for reunification through a loose federal structure. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, said that Cyprus had missed a historic opportunity and that the EU would be admitting a "divided and militarised" member. It is hard to envisage worse conditions for entry. And Mr Annan's warning has proved fully justified. Once within the union, a Greek south led by a deeply unpleasant populist nationalist, Tassos Papadopoulos, has been able to stand pat with impunity.
The main victim of its intransigence has been the Turkish north of the island, which voted strongly in favour of the Annan plan. Dismayed by the Greek rejection, the EU promised the north aid to lift it out of economic isolation. Two and a half years on, that isolation remains and its ending has become dependent on Turkey opening its ports to the Greek south of Cyprus. At the Brussels summit, the EU is expected to punish Ankara for its refusal to comply by partially freezing accession talks. The Turkish Cypriots thus find themselves squeezed between Mr Papadopoulos and EU misgivings about Turkish entry.
The division of Cyprus is one of Europe's longest-running crises. By taking in the south immediately after its rejection of the Annan plan, the EU has ensured its indefinite continuation. In so doing, it has behaved shoddily by the Turkish Cypriots and demonstrated the strategic perspicacity of a mole. In that light, Mr Rehn's words about the need to prepare properly for entry reek of hypocrisy.

14/12/2006 Daily Telegraph

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Start from scratch

Hello all !

This is the first post of many to come. What I'd like to establish is a blog for people to share their business ideas and to make contacts for future possibilities.

At the moment I'm working in a construction company in Ankara - Turkey and I'm in charge of contracts regarding foreign projects. I also attend meeting and negotiations regarding these projects and establish communications when needed.

In this sense I am open to all ideas, offers etc. regarding international business and I hope that this blog will serve as a meeting point for young proffesionals wishing to share.