EU-Turkey Relations: A Glimmer of Hope?

Ties between the EU and Turkey have hit such lows over the past few years that even marginal improvements now almost carry a whiff of a breakthrough. As Cyprus takes up the Council presidency we are, rather paradoxically, on an upward trajectory. The reason is fairly straightforward: it has to do with the arrival of François Hollande at the Elysée. Under Nicolas Sarkozy, France was the undisputed leader of the Turkey sceptics in Brussels. Sarkozy captured the centre-right sentiment in France, Germany and elsewhere on the continent, by famously stating that Turkey was a great country, but not a European one.

Paper produced within the framework of the project Turkey, Europe and the World. Publ. in IAI Research Paper 9.