Introduction
European Union is a political and an economic union located in Europe with a membership of 27 states. It is ruled by 7 associations among them being European council and the court of justice of the European Union. It was established in 1993 by the treaty of Maastricht after the foundations of the European communities. EU was formed for the purpose of regional integration. In 1995, Sweden, Australia, and Finland joined the union. Euro notes and coins were used to replace national currencies in 2002 representing the 12 member states, which had already joined the union. It was then adjusted to include 16 countries when the membership enlarged.
Currently the membership of EU has enlarged drastically to the current 27 member states; some of these states are Australia, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and Denmark. The membership has grown from the original six members which were the founding states to 27 member states in a very short time. There is a criterion that has to be met before one becomes a member of the EU. This criterion is known as the Copenhagen criterion which was recognized in 1993 at the Copenhagen European council. In regards to the criteria for a country to become a member of EU, it has to respect equality, regulations and obligations of EU and have an economy that can bear with the competition in the market of EU. Since absorption, there is no country that has ceased to become a member.
Turkey has been nominated for membership to EU in the year 2012. Other countries that have been nominated are Macedonia and Croatia. In this paper I will look at the overview of how turkey applied for membership in the EU, the living standards, religious aspects, immigration issues, and political and economic aspects in EU. I will conclude by giving the reasons why turkey should join the union and the negative effects associated with it.
Turkey’s entry to the European Union
In 1987, Turkey started the process of applying for EU membership. This was a process that started after serving as an associate member of the union since early 1963. It was among the first countries to become members of the council of Europe in year 1949 and was the founding member of both the “organization for economic co-operation and development and the organization for security and co-operative” in Europe in 1961 and 1973 respectively. It is in 1995 when Turkey signed a contract with EU and in 1999 it got the nomination to be elected as member of EU. Since 2005, negotiations started which are expected to last for a decade in favor of turkey becoming a member of the EU (Carkoglu & Rubin 64).
In my view I think turkey should join the EU. It will have to first fulfill the requirement of the economic market, rule of law, human rights, and the military influence. Although turkey has already started the process, it is going to take along time (maybe it will be up to the year 2013) for it to be recognized as a member of the European Union.
Living standards in the European Union
EU’s population as at 2004 covered about 7.2% of total population in the world having about 461 million persons which had grown from 406 million persons in 1970. During this time, a fifth of the population in EU was composed of young adults from the ages of 20 years and the rest were older people. In decades to come we will have the EU’s population being largely composed of older persons. Better medical facilities have resulted in an increase in life expectancy at birth and it is expected that a girl child can live for more than 81 years and for boys about 75 years. Fertility levels have been low resulting in demographic ageing in the population of EU. The ratio of the older generation is becoming higher to that of the working age. In years to come the old age dependency ratio will have risen to higher levels and we may have a single person of working age having to provide to a larger number of the older and retired people. Population increase has been caused by the decrease in death rate and a declining birth rate. This has been contributed to the fact that life expectancy has improved while fertility levels remains low (El-Agraa 279). Another factor that has contributed to the increase in population is international migration which started in the early 1990s until today.
A research was carried out in 2005, which reveled that out of the total population in EU, 49% of persons living in private households lived with dependent children and an eighth was composed of single parents. In terms of education, majority of the member states had embraced compulsory education system that ended when a child was at the age of 15-16 years but majority of these young people remained in school even after the age of 18 years. Females had a higher participation rates than men. This was not the case for turkey because in turkey we had a higher participation rate in males than in females. It was also found that most of these young people stayed in education for long periods of time and entered the labor market when they were already old. About 50% entered the market when they were 22 years old and the rest at a latter age (Roney & Budd 75). This shows that the productivity level in EU is lower as compared to other developed countries like the US.
All member states of EU embrace the learning of English as a foreign language in all the secondary schools. This facilitates understanding among member countries and therefore promotes regional integration. There has been an increase in the number of females in higher institutions of learning as compared to men. This flows to the labor market where we have a large number of females in the work force. It is only turkey that has an exemption to this (El-Agraa 280).
Employment opportunities are available in agriculture, industry and in services with most of the labor force in the agriculture sector. Despite the fact that females are more educated and have higher participation rates than their male counter parts, they continue to earn low salaries. They are given fewer employment opportunities and retire at an age about one and a half years younger than the males. Most of the male employees retire from the age of 64 years upwards. This has been the case for many decades and the situation does not seem to change in the future.
Most of the EU member states are at the risk of poverty. This has been contributed to the fact that there is an increase in the population of the old people (65 and above) than the young ones (0-15 years). Unemployment rates have declined though we still have a higher number of young people being unemployed. If something is not done to improve employment among the youth, most of the countries will be poor in decades to come. The dependency ratio among the old is high and the young working persons have many dependants (including children) to look after. If turkey decides to join the union, it will have to bear with this situation although it may have a competitive advantage due to its large number of men being active than females which is not the case in the other states.
Religious aspects
There is a network of European foundations (NEF) that has been formed to address issues related to religion and democracy. It was initially formed for the purpose of strengthening cooperation between the European level and other foundations. This cooperation was in the form of joint ventures (Petrova & Clifford 8). NEF has the responsibility of offering its members opportunities of identifying common goals to act as structures of joining other foundations and for youth empowerment. The initiative of religion and democracy looks into the relationship between the two in the societies in Europe with the aim of contributing in seminars and research on issues related to them. Religion has had an influence in Europe throughout its history. There had been debates of whether references to God and Christianity should be included in the constitution of European Union. In Europe, in order for a religion to be observed it has to have followers of that faith who will adapt a certain way of life (El-Agraa 215). Questions have been raised as to what extent should freedoms in religion be practiced in healthcare and whether protection against discrimination should be provided in these healthcares.
Three rights have been discussed that might come into intersection in religion and healthcare. These include:
- Right to health
- Freedom of religion
- Right to non-discrimination and equality.
One of the democratic principles in the European states is to uphold the right to equality, freedom of religion, and protection against discrimination (Petrova & Clifford 12). Everyone has the right to access health facilities and goods or services at an equal opportunity as any one else.
Presently in European Union, there is no law provided for protection against discrimination either on the grounds of religion or healthcare beliefs. The European commission raised proposals that addressed discrimination on different grounds which led to the formation of a ladder of protection.
Immigration issues
European Union entitles all citizens of the 27 member states the freedom of living, traveling, and working in any country that they may choose. Citizens are free to travel anywhere, choose when to work, when to retire and where to reside without encountering any problems within the countries of EU. The choices that are provided by the EU can not be found in any other individual country. There is free movement of people, goods and services and money in any of the countries of EU. Citizens in these countries get access to a variety of goods and services which they can choice from. Interaction is encouraged among citizens of different countries and this may result in increased innovativeness, creativity, and regional integration. European Union has various immigration programs among them being programs of foreign work, acquiring of citizenship, and how citizenship can be inherited. Most of these programs can help one to obtain citizenship while others are just short term programs for the purpose of tourism or employment. One advantage that turkey’s citizen can benefit from being citizens of an EU country are that, EU has laws and regulation that are applicable to the country that one chooses to work or reside in (Brady 6). Other benefits to the citizens of turkey towards joining EU are:
- Acquires an EU passport
- Can become resident of any EU country
- Can obtain employment in any of the member states
- Becomes citizens of an EU states
- Can marry anywhere within the states of EU
Being a citizen of EU simply means having some limited individual rights in any of EU country. Every citizen has a right to equality and health care in any country that he may choose to reside in. One can access higher education in any of the member states and be recognized in the country he chooses to work from.
Economic and political status in EU
Since 1930s, EU has been experiencing periods of economic recession which is expected to continue with a shrinking GDP. There has been evidence of some signs of economic improvement although the recovery process is still uncertain. In December 2008, the “European Economic Recovery Plan” (EERP) was launched which was to help restore and stabilize the economy. The main objective of EERP was to restore economic confidence through strategic investments and improvement on business and labor markets (European commission 3). The commission carried out an analysis which revealed that unless policies were implemented to tackle the challenge, EU’s GDP could fall to significant low permanent low levels. Factors that could lead to this are:
- high levels of unemployment which leads to loss of skills
- Low investment levels will result in a decrease in the stock of infrastructure and equipment or become outdated.
- Research and development may be cut back which will result in low levels of innovativeness.
Since its origin, EU has been experiencing issues in politics brought about by its enlargement. EU membership has increased drastically from 6 member states to the current 27 members. This increase was highest in 2004 when 10 states from central and Eastern Europe joined the union. These enlargements have had both economic and political impacts. Patterns of integration have been affected on matters of security, economic development, and the levels of agriculture. Majority of the states that have recently been incorporated in the union are poorer than the existing ones and have contributed to the drain in the economy (Levy 1). Most of them are not ready to adopt the euro making it even harder for the monetary and economic union. Trading in the EU market has been become due to the countries which have refused to adopt the Euro. At times competition is too high that some of the small countries are adversely affected.
Politically the union has not been stable due to its diverse number in its membership. This makes it difficult to set rules and regulation. EU has allowed its members to travel or reside in any country of their choice and this may result in conflict of interest. Citizens from different countries are guided by different principles morally or ethically that may conflict with those of the countries they may choose to reside in. The freedom of travel from one country to the other in search of employment places may drain one country’s skill at the expense of another.
Positive effects of turkey being a member of EU
Upon admission to EU, turkey will enjoy freedom of movement among members state. Citizens can move from one country to another for tourism or vocational reasons. In times when the country lacks competent staff, it can easily access them from any of the members of EU. It benefits from expanded markets internationally where the country can sell or purchase products without difficulties. Citizens will have a wider variety of goods and services to choose from. These expansions in the markets will lead to improvement in economic development and living standards. Turkey’s unemployment rates will go down because many of the qualified workers who are unable to secure employment places locally can be allowed to work temporally in any of the other countries.
Turkey is a country with majority of its citizens being Muslims. Although EU previously faced discrimination on grounds of religion in the access of medical care and employment, the European Union foundations has been fighting against it. Now the Muslims can enjoy the freedom of worship, protection against discrimination, and the right to health. They can enjoy freedom of equality in any of the EU‘s states. Another positive effect to turkey upon joining the union is that, it being a developed nation, it will be able to enjoy most of the benefits in EU. Such benefits are competitive advantage over the other nations due to its growth in economy, available of labor force, and high chances of economic growth due to immigration. It will also benefit from regional integration and access to skilled labor force. Through interaction with members of different states, Turkey’s citizens can become more innovative in production processes which in turns increase the country’s productivity.
Negative effects
Although it is a good idea for turkey to join EU, there are negative effects associated with that absorption. First, currently EU has enlarged at a very high rate and it is congested with members. Its economy has gone down and it is at the stage of recession which will take a long time before full recovery takes place. For Turkey, upon joining this union it will suffer from economic depression because most of the citizens in other countries who have been affected by the recession will tend to seek refuge in Turkey thereby straining Turkey’s economy.
Another negative effect that Turkey will suffer from is the brain drain on its productive skilled labor force. In EU, there is freedom of movement from one country to another and the skilled laborers from Turkey may choose to migrate to other countries if they are offered better terms. This may result in a decrease in productivity locally at the expense of other nations. Its political and economic stability will be interfered with (Levy, 2) which in turn may result in economic depression.
Conclusion
European Union is a political and an economic union located in Europe with a membership of 27 states under the governorship of 7 institutions. In regards to the criteria for a country to become a member of EU, it has to respect equality, regulations and obligations of EU and have an economy that can bear with the competition in the market of EU. It is in 1995 when Turkey signed a contract with EU and in 1999 it got the nomination to be elected as member of EU. Since 2005, negotiations started which are expected to last for a decade in favor of turkey becoming a member of the EU. In EU the old dependency ratio is growing at an alarming rate and for a decade to come EU will be at the risk of poverty. The number of the old people is higher than the young ones having most of them being retired and dependent on the younger ones.
There is freedom of religion, equality and the right for protection against discrimination among the member states of EU. Health care has improved with better facilities which are accessible to anyone. Citizens among member states can move freely from one country to another for employment, tourism, vocation, education among others. Despite the large number in its membership, EU is under economic recession which will take a long time before recovering. I would recommend Turkey to join the union because it will have many positive effects. Some of these effects are but not limited to freedom of movement, expansion in economic markets, access to a wider range of goods and services, regional integration with other states and access to skilled labor force. Negative effects include interference with it economic and political instability and the brain drain in its skilled labor force.
Works Cited
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Carkoglu, Ali., & Rubin, Barry M. Turkey and the European Union: domestic politics, economic integration, and international. New York: Routledge, 2003
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European commission. “Economic crises in Europe: Causes, consequences and responses.” European economy, 2009. Web.
Levy, Dean. “Political consequences of European’s union enlargement.” Associated Content, Inc. 2010. Web.
Petrova, Dimitrina., and Clifford, Jarlath. “Religion and healthcare in the European Union Policy issues and trends.” Network of European Foundation, 2010. Web.
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