EU an expansion too far ?

[semper]

I'm starting to feel that we should stop and consolidate before we accept any more members of the EU, we are getting too big, there is a danger we could over extend ourselves.

from January 1 Bulgaria and Romania will become members, I'm quite concerned about the level of corruption in Romania I'm still not convinced that they have under control
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4677488.stm

 

[Random_Task]

I'm starting to feel that we should stop and consolidate before we accept any more members of the EU, we are getting too big, there is a danger we could over extend ourselves.

from January 1 Bulgaria and Romania will become members, I'm quite concerned about the level of corruption in Romania I'm still not convinced that they have under control
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4677488.stm

Do you think Turkey should join?

 

[Outstanding]

[quote="Random_Task Do you think Turkey should join?[/quote] I appluad the brevity of your question and in doin so will limit my answer.

NO.

 

[jonwilly]

I have always accepted that one day the UK will be part of the EU.
However IMHO it's all been rushed for some political idea.
Too much too soon, Far too soon.
50 maybe 100 years would be required to bring Nations into line before acceptance for membership.
john
Turkey my rectum, Franch will not have them and even if they did Austria has shown its views and we have not even got round to the Balken states and their Opinion.

 

[BuckFelize]

Fcuk it. Shit or bust. Let China in!

 

[Imshi-Yallah]

Ever had a conversation with a Romanian about Turkey?

Don't repeat my mistake and do it in an otherwise quiet, posh restaurant.

 

[stoatman]

I have always accepted that one day the UK will be part of the EU.
However IMHO it's all been rushed for some political idea.
Too much too soon, Far too soon.
50 maybe 100 years would be required to bring Nations into line before acceptance for membership.
john
Turkey my rectum, Franch will not have them and even if they did Austria has shown its views and we have not even got round to the Balken states and their Opinion.

I think you will find that the UK was a founder member of the EU...

With regards to Turkey, let's face it -- they will never amend their constitution to allow full religious freedom, and they will be refused on those grounds.

 

[semper]

the best nearest thing we could offer Turkey is associate membership, in preferrental trading deals, also Turkey could scrap the £10 charge we have to pay to buy a visa to get in Turkey.

 

[Trossachs]

[quote="Random_Task Do you think Turkey should join?

I appluad the brevity of your question and in doin so will limit my answer.

NO.[/quote]

Wrong answer. the right answer is "Yes".

"Yes" will confound the islamists across the rest of the mid-east who say "its all a plot against us moslems"
"Yes" will help the Turkish Govt keep the country secular.
"Yes" will say thanks to a NATO ally, one of the few countries in that part of the world who have actually helped us ( Thinks Korea etc etc).

While we are at it - make haste to let Bosnia and Serbia in, before that part of the world goes base over apex again. EU membership would scupper the both the "Russian" and "Islamist" "Western Conspiracy" types in one go.

Turkey - Hoş geldiniz !

 

[AndyPipkin]

I have always accepted that one day the UK will be part of the EU.
However IMHO it's all been rushed for some political idea.
Too much too soon, Far too soon.
50 maybe 100 years would be required to bring Nations into line before acceptance for membership.
john
Turkey my rectum, Franch will not have them and even if they did Austria has shown its views and we have not even got round to the Balken states and their Opinion.

I think you will find that the UK was a founder member of the EU...

With regards to Turkey, let's face it -- they will never amend their constitution to allow full religious freedom, and they will be refused on those grounds.

I think you'll find that we weren't. The original six founders of the European Coal and Steel Community were France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Lux and Italy. We had to beg for admission in 1973, De Gaulle having nixed our previous application.

 

[lsquared]

I think it went 'too far' when Great Britain joined!
T Bliar was all in favour of the European Soviet Union (ESU) when he came to power, maybe because there a 'permanent Presidency with a palace' in the offing. Then he took his eye off the ball and became enamoured of President Bush and the chance to be a leader on the world's stage and a war leader.
If the ESU must go on getting bigger, then it is lunacy to deny Turkey membership. So there!

 

[LankyPullThrough]

I'm starting to feel that we should stop and consolidate before we accept any more members of the EU

I thought one of the main reasons countries like the UK were in favour of expansion was to try, if you like, to limit consolidation by going 'wide' precisely to counteract the tendencies of France and Germany to go 'deep'. Isn't that why we were so keen to embrace the old SovBloc E. European countries? Of course, the law of unintended consequence popped up with our free admission of E. European labour bringing in far more workers (legal and illegal) than expected making many in this country re-consider.