The Future of Europe, Differentiated Integration and Turkey's Role

The future of the European Union in terms of its final frontiers and political structure lies at the epicentre of European public debate. What impact would Turkish EU membership have on the future of Europe? Turkish membership could be a blessing in disguise. The evolution of the EU towards a path of differentiated integration, with a new type of membership for Turkey, could provide the Union with further opportunities to deepen integration in different policy areas. It might adopt the EU acquis on key policies such as energy, transport, the single market or common security and defence, but remain outside of the EU framework for the Social Charter, or the Schengen regime. If Turkey becomes one of the first examples of such a scheme, the future of European integration would drastically change, transforming the EU into a new blend of an organizational core, and a system of functionally differentiated units.

Paper produced within the framework of the project Turkey, Europe and the World. Publ. in IAI Research Paper 13.