European Parliament
Hortefeux (PPE-DE ),
in writing
(FR)
Today this House has finally reached a decision on Turkey’s membership of the European Union. This was a vote eagerly awaited by European citizens, who struggle to understand their governments’ attitudes on this issue.
I voted against the draft report by Mr Eurlings, as it came to the conclusion that ‘the European Council [should] open the negotiations with Turkey without undue delay’, and that ‘the objective of the negotiations is Turkish EU membership’.
The European project is a well-defined one, the aim of which is to share a number of competences between neighbouring and similar countries in order to build a new political whole. Integrating Turkey into this whole would be problematic for a number of reasons.
Firstly, Turkey is not part of the European continent in geographical terms, as over 90% of its territory is in Asia, and 90% of its borders are with Asian countries.
Secondly, throughout history Turkey has shared none of our values, with such values ensuring that Europe today is based on a foundation of common traditions kept alive by all of us.
Finally, I should like to advance a weighty argument which directly affects our institutional structure; if Turkey enters the European Union it will have the largest population of any Member State, which will mean …
(Explanation of vote abbreviated in accordance with Rule 163 of the Rules of Procedure)

