Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Turkey Will Not Join The EU This Decade--EU Commissioner

This is from a couple sources that have an obvious axe to grind so buyer beware.

We first became aware of the commissioner, Günther Oettinger, when he was European Commissioner for Energy. Now his portfolio is Digital Economy and Society.

The first version of the story that we saw was at the Report News Agency (Azerbaijan):

European Commissioner: Turkey is unlikely to join the EU in next decade
Baku. 30 December. REPORT.AZ/ Turkey's EU membership will not happen in the next decade, while there is concern that the EU will fall apart.

Report informs citing the Russian media, this was stated by European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Information Society Günther Oettinger, in his interview to Bild.

"Turkey's joining (to the EU) will not happen in this decade, maybe it will not happen in next decade also," said Oettinger.

He added that he "sees a serious threat to disintegration of the EU", which is to come to power in European "unstable and populist governments."

According to the European Commissioner, all countries in Europe must preserve the opportunity to join the EU, if "they fulfill the conditions." This, in particular, we are speaking of the Western Balkan countries, said Oettinger.

"However, there is a need for strict conditions for admission. It will not be harmful, if the European Union acquires more new members over next 10 years," - said the commissioner.
Looking around the interwebs, a longer version of the story is at Russia's Sputnik:
EU Politician Says Turkey Is Unlikely to Join EU in Next Decade

This may all be moot if the rumors that Erdoğan's top fatwa  giver has acknowledged Mr. E.'s claim to be the @RealCaliph* rather than that usurper al-Baghdadi, turn out to be true.

*That was only meant to be a play on @realDonaldTrump, don't bother sending the weird beards.