"The economic ills of the 10 new members are no less than Turkey ’s, but there is a E.U. veto on Ankara ’s membership," Koriman said

By Hadi Yahmid, IOL Correspondent

PARIS, May 1 (IslamOnlin.net) - The European Union’s big bang expansion from 15 to 25 members is basically politically motivated as the euro bloc has overlooked the yawning economic disparity between the old members and the newcomers, European experts told IslamOnline.net.

The veto on Turkey’s accession to the expanding bloc due to its time-honored Islamic heritage and despite its improving economic conditions compared to the new members is a case in point, they agreed.

"The E.U. present members have condoned to the economic woes of the newcomers, including corruption and towering unemployment rates, for political reasons," said Michel Koriman, professor of politics in Sorbonne University.

For example, the gross domestic product per head of the biggest newcomer, Poland, is 10 times less than tiny Luxembourg's.

"The economic ills of the 10 new members are no less than Turkey’s, but there is a E.U. veto on Ankara’s membership," said the expert.

Sadi Lakhdari, the director of French political magazine Autre Terre and professor of Spanish studies in Sorbonne, agreed that the E.U. is going to face a plethora of problems given the poor economic conditions of the newcomers.

"If we take Poland as an example with its 39 million population and poor living standards, we find that countless of its labor will flood western Europe for job opportunities," he expected.

"The per capita income of these countries tells us that they need at least 10 years to catch up with the living standards of the giant present 15 member countries.

Neighboring Turkey

Lakhadri warns Ankara would be left out in the European cold if the E.U. rebuffed its file

Koriman said geographically Turkey is located at the crossroad of Europe and historically is very much closer to the continent than the former Soviet-Baltic states.

"It’s amazing that the E.U. is skeptic at Turkey’s geographical position, while it, for instance, considers as an integral part a number of far-flung French islands off the Atlantic and Pacific oceans."

Lakhdari also cited Cyprus as a stark example, saying the Mediterranean island was more distant from Europe than Turkey.

He said Turkey enjoys a strategic geographical position, but its historical background and internal problems are eating away at its accession dreams.

He warned that Ankara would be left out in the European cold if the E.U. rebuffed its file.

U.S. Ally

John Laughland, a British political researcher and an editor of the Mail On Sunday, pointed out that Turkey’s alliance with the United States was also weakening its European case.

He underlined that Turkey is one of the most important political and cultural ally to the U.S. in the Middle East.

The British researcher recalled former U.S. president Bill Clinton’s support for Turkey’s E.U. membership in 1999 Helsinki summit, which gave the Europeans a cause for concern that Washington could influence the body’s decision-making process should Ankara became a member.

Turkey's aspirations to be the first Muslim-majority member of the European family took a hit Thursday, April 29, when French President Jacques Chirac said Ankara likely would not meet the bloc's conditions for another 10-15 years.

One of the biggest items on the agenda of E.U. diplomats is whether to start accession talks with Turkey. They are set to decide at a December summit.

It is also presented with the thorny problem of a divided Cyprus entering the union, after Greek Cypriots rejected a "last-chance" plan to end the Mediterranean island's 30-year division.

At the stroke of midnight Saturday Central European Time (2200 GMT Friday), the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia swelled the ranks of the euro family into 25 members.

By welcoming 75 million citizens, the E.U., established in 1957, has now a population of some 455 million people, making it the third largest populated region after China and India.