EU’s candidate country Turkey votes for Christmas again

Despite billions (a lot from the UK) thrown at Turkey, the EU has a dried old bird on its hands

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

Erdoğan wins in presidential elections by 52% to 48%

Much was made by Remainers and Leavers in the UK’s EU Referendum about Turkey becoming a member of the EU. It remains the case that Turkey is an official EU candidate country. The fact it hasn’t yet joined is mostly down to the hardline policies of its President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

In the run-off elections last week he prevailed. He has been Prime Minister and then President of Turkey for 20 years (since 2003) and has now gained a further five years in power.

Turkey: NATO member, EU candidate country, pro-Islamist, Putin-friendly

At a time of great uncertainty in the world’s geopolitical balances, Turkey matters. Not only is it large, with a population of over 85 million, it is positioned in a pivotal place geographically.

Turkey links south-east Asia with Europe and its position on the south coast of the Black Sea has made it a key player in the troubles over Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. It was Erdoğan who ostensibly brokered the fragile deal to get grain flowing out of Ukraine again.

What is the EU’s €6.5bn ‘Facility for Refugees in Turkey’ and why did the UK pay into it?

Credit: EU Council

The ‘Facility for Refugees in Turkey’ is an off-budget, off-the-books EU fund devised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in late 2015 to encourage President Erdoğan of Turkey to stem the flow of migrants flooding into the EU as a result of Merkel’s ‘all welcome here’ policy.

This specifically relates to a Schengen problem – and the UK was never part of Schengen. Nevertheless David Cameron agreed in 2016 to pay 16.5% of the first €3 billion fund. At its summit in June 2018 the EU Council formally considered a second tranche of €3 billion, and Theresa May approved it.

That makes a total of €6 billion. €2 billion of this comes from the EU budget into which the UK makes its annual contributions. The remaining €4 billion was in effect voluntary. It is not in the EU Treaties nor in the approved budgets and it was requested to come from individual member states. The additional voluntary contribution agreed by Theresa May was circa €330 million euros. That made almost two-thirds of a billion euros in total, for this one fund in addition to its share of the €2 billion from the EU budget.

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In July 2020 the EU agreed a top-up of a further €485 million.

“Following the Commission`s proposal on 3 June, the European Parliament has approved today a top-up of EUR 485 million to support refugees in Turkey. The funding now cleared by both the Council and the European Parliament will allow the European Union to extend two flagship humanitarian programmes in Turkey until the end of 2021.”
“One of the programmes – the Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) – is providing over 1.7 million refugees with monthly cash assistance.”
- EU Commission, Brussels, 10 July 2020

The ESSN facility operates on the basis of giving migrants in Turkey ATM cards so that they can withdraw money from cash machines. The British taxpayer was funding this.

Observations

President Erdoğan

When a leader enters his third decade of power over his country, some serious questions have to be asked. There have been western leaders who were in power for over 10 years such as Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel, but none who reigned for 25 years, as President Erdoğan will do following his inauguration this coming weekend.

Over the years Facts4EU.Org has produced several reports about Turkey, its relationship with the EU and with NATO. There are so many troubling aspects it would be impossible to list them all. Here are just a few:-

Buying its missile air defence system from Russia despite being a member of NATO
Turning the iconic Hagia Sophia into a mosque
Patrolling the Mediterranean with increasing numbers of warships
Threatening the gas fields of Greece and Cyprus

In terms of geopolitics there are many worrying areas of the world including China, Russia and Iran. With President Erdoğan settling in for his next five years of power, Turkey may well become a further thorn in the side for the West.

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[ Sources: EU Commission | National Audit Office | NATO ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 01 June 2023

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Reader Comments 10

1. DEREK STEWART , Thursday, June 01, 2023, 06:32:

As I live in Finland, on the north side of the Baltic Sea, it was interesting to hear that Turkey is just over the water on the south side. Or, just a minute... could it be that the (no doubt weary) writer of the article actually meant "the Black Sea"!!

2. Have You Wondered , Thursday, June 01, 2023, 07:08:

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What will happen if Turkey formerly joins the EU? The EU cannot cope with, the relatively uncomplicated, Hungary and Poland !
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Search: newsletter brussels playbook germany in recession cancel hungarys presidency eu nato support grows
Search: article meps outline strategies to strangle hungarys eu presidency
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Will the EU be breaking treaties, as many times it does, by trying to sideline Hungary's and Poland's roatating presidencies ?
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However, - Turkey will probably will not join the EU as VDL won't have a chair to chair the meetings - might have to delegate that one to Charles Michel !
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How on earth can the EU hope to bind such diverse political, religious, economic and culturally different nations into one political body?
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As a consortium of trading greengrocers it would work but not in the dominating political expansionist way the EU wants to operate.
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I recall that there was an inquiry into all the monies the EU sent to Turkey and never accounted for. Anyone know the result?
.

3. Have You Wondered , Thursday, June 01, 2023, 07:10:

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Have You Wondered where's Jon Livesy has disappeared too? I enjoyed his insights.
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4. Sparky , Thursday, June 01, 2023, 07:42:

1 DS. Hope your enjoying your new views. A little warmer than your used to. Must be fascinating watching all the circus of Brexit going on from where you are.
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Turkey is taking advantage of it’s pivotal position geographically and has done for years. Chances of Turkey joining EU slim to no chance.
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3 HYW. Had similar thought recently.

5. NH , Thursday, June 01, 2023, 09:04:

This is normal EU decision making at full speed !
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Turkey formally applied to join the EU 36 years ago. In 1999 the EU unanimously declared Turkey a candidate country. This was very significant as it gave Turkey access to huge EU funds for pre-accession assistance.
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Last year Turkey was declared a Hyperinflation Economy for IAS reporting standards. The EU is still trying to make a decision !

6. LuxuryBalloon , Thursday, June 01, 2023, 10:27:

5 NH. It does not seem to be Erdogan’s priority anymore to join the EU … so no EU decision needed.
I think it is in UK’s interest to work with the EU to keep Syrian refugees in Turkey … the alternative is that the Syrian refugees will come to the EU and come to the UK. Erdogan wants money from the EU and UK to keep the Syrian refugees in Turkey.

7. LuxuryBalloon , Thursday, June 01, 2023, 10:30:

1 Derek … many Daily Express articles also refer to the Black Sea as the Baltic Sea … maybe a link?

8. Chri On , Thursday, June 01, 2023, 13:11:

Just not a European place or culture when you look at it.

9. Gazzablack , Thursday, June 01, 2023, 21:54:

Meanwhile in the EU's province formerly known as Italy:
Italy's manufacturing sector marked it's steepest contraction in three years.
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In the EU engine room, Germany;
Consumers have gone on a buyers strike due to high inflation and negative real wages.
Price adjusted retail sales slumped 8.6% in April, much more than expected, mainly driven by a drop in food purchases of -10%
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By the way, Germany has bought more Russian hydrocarbons since Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine than any country other than China.
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Guy Verhofstadt believes that Hungary shouldn't be treated as an equal within the EU and is trying to organise a movement to ensure they are not.
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And just in case you hadn't realised. France has had riots everyday for the last few months.

10. Ashley Great Britain , Friday, June 02, 2023, 10:09:

No funds should be off the books and no one should accept them as such.
That is a clear corruption tool in plain sight.

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