Buy the article on CAIRN websiteAbstract

The goal of the negotiations that will begin in 2005 is the accession of Turkey to the European Union. French President Jacques Chirac has taken a big democratic risk: he has neither the support of the French population, nor of his own party. In the meantime, the French Constitution has been modified. In the future, a referendum will be obligatory prior to any further enlargement of the EU: it could lead to a clash after years of discussions. The European Union has taken a big risk for its credibility in considering Turkey a country fulfilling the Copenhagen's criteria. The social heterogeneity of the Union would be unmanageable if Turkey which has a GDP representing only 25% of the GDP of the 25 was to join EU. Sylvie Goulard is Research Fellow at the Centre d’études et de recherches internationales (CERI-CNRS). She teaches at the College of Europe in Bruges and in a master of the joined Institut d’études politiques of Paris and the London School of Economics.