WHY IS PRESIDENT SARKOZY ACTUALLY AGAINST TURKISH ACCESSION TO THE EU? FACTS AND CHALLENGES

Abstract

The new French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been the focus of many discussions prior to and after the 2007 French Presidential elections due to his far-reaching political discourse in France, in the EU, and around the world. Undoubtedly, Turkey is not an exception. His views about full membership of Turkey to the EU also created reaction in Turkey and steered up the anti-EU sentiment to a considerable extent. There are several debates about the well-known anti-Turkish sentiment of President Sarkozy. This paper aims to bring a different approach to the ongoing debates by focusing on the political profile and priorities of Sarkozy. The paper argues whether French foreign policy will significantly change under President Sarkozy as he claimed his approach to be ‘a rupture’ during his election campaign, and what this ‘rupture’ really means for the EU in general and for Turkish EU accession process in particular. The essential argument of this article is that it is not Turkey itself per se, but domestic constraints and international priorities combined constitute the ground for the negative opinion about Turkish EU membership in France and that the difference between substance and style should be identified in evaluating Sarkozy’s foreign policy. Following a thorough analysis of the issues involved, the paper concludes with future suggestions to overcome the present and possible future difficulties

Keywords

• French Foreign Policy, Nicholas Sarkozy, Domestic Politics, European Union, French EU Presidency, Turkey