Can Europe Embrace Turkey and Ukraine? - Bloomberg: "The European Union has just signed a deal to introduce visa-free travel for Turks. The agreement is a milestone not least because news of it will also travel -- to Kiev.
Turkey and Ukraine are vastly different, of course. But they both present the EU with huge challenges and opportunities. How the EU responds will affect not only the size and scope of the EU, obviously, but also the legitimacy and power of the European ideal.
First things first: The chances that Turkey will join the EU remain slight, and Ukraine has yet to be offered even the possibility. The EU opened membership negotiations with Turkey in 2005 only to freeze the bulk of the talks soon afterward. Ukraine has been offered only a trade and association agreement with the EU. There is hesitation on the other side of both of these relationships, too: Ukrainians are as deeply split as Turks over their proper place in the world.
That said, it’s important to note that despite the EU’s misguided reluctance to admit Turkey, the integration process itself has been central to the improvement of Turkey’s economy and business practices. By now, Turkey has at least as much to offer the EU as the other way around."
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