Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Why Armenia Wants to Join the European Union" video.

@vonunterberg4313 To be fair, Turkey would have to do some major political and economic reforms before they could join, under the current government, Turkey has zero chance of joining, but in the future, well it depends on the people of Turkey. In any case, Turkey have been wanting to join the EU for decades, but they've been dragging there feet on reforms, going sideways and even backwards over the last decade. The speed at which a country can join the EU really does boil down to the country that wants to join, how quickly they do the political and economic reforms to join, hence why some countries join the EU far sooner than others, they do the reforms needed to join, whereas the others that drag there feet, keep making excuses on why the EU won't let them in.
14
@2909dk It wouldn't surprise me if the EU would want to let them both join at the same time. As for Turkey, it would be a wake-up call for them, countries don't just join the EU because they want to join the EU, there are a lot of political and economic reforms needed to join the EU, Turkey keeps making excuses up, dragging its feet on reforms, blaming the EU for not letting them in, they've even been going sideways and backwards over the last decade. If you look at the history of countries that joined the EU, there's a pattern when it comes to speed, the countries that do the reforms needed, join far sooner compared to the ones that drag there feet and make excuses, Turkey is a long way from joining the EU because of the actions of the current government, which is actually going backwards on the reforms, and even when Turkey was making progress, it was painfully slow, in other words, they've only got themselves to blame for the current situation.
3
The thing is with the EU, all it needs to do is deliver on the goods, in other words, countries it lets into the EU, develop them, help them create a more stable political and economic environment and that will speak for it's self. In other words, by the EU helping to develop the eastern EU countries, their success is going to have a ripple effect on other countries in the region that are not in the EU, in other words, they will want to join. Russia won't like that because they will see it as an encroachment into their region of power, unfortunately for Russia, the people in many of these countries don't care, most of the people want stability, both political and economic, and they want a good quality of life, the EU is proven to be able to deliver on that, which acts like a magnet for other countries to want to join, now don't get me wrong, the EU isn't perfect, but if you look at every country that joined the EU over decades, they've developed a lot, contrast that to countries that are outside the EU in Eastern Europe and they are far poorer, including Russia, except for some regions like Moscow and St Petersburg, most of Russia is quite poor. This is the real threat Putin faces as he doesn't have the economic muscle and political knowhow to deliver on the same, and in fact, Putin is actually playing into the hands of what the EU wants, by threatening countries in the region, Putin is pushing countries more into the embrace of the EU, which will end up weakening Russia whiles making the EU stronger, Putin's tactics of threats, intimidation and control isn't doing Russia any favours when the EU is far more diplomatic, Putin is pushing more countries towards the west, already 2 countries joined NATO and many are lining up to join the EU. As for the countries that want to join the EU, they should take advantage of that as the EU door is starting to swing open to allow countries in, but we should remember that reforms to the EU are needed, especially on veto rules before any country can join, I suspect reforms will be talked about in the EU after the European Parliament elections with a possible conclusion before 2030. Then we have the countries that want to join, ultimately, how quickly a country can join the EU is really up to the country in question, how quickly they do the political, economic reforms needed to join, some countries are quite quick on that, others drag there feet, the sooner the reforms are done, the more likely sooner those countries can join, Turkey is a prime example of dragging there feet, sometimes they make progress and then they go backwards, some other countries do the same, hence why it can take years or even decades to join. When it comes to Ukraine, once the war is resolved, Ukraine might be able to join the EU sooner rather than later, I suspect with what Russia have done to the country, it would be bold for any political figures to hold back reforms to join the EU, especially with how favourable the people are behind joining, so even if the reforms are hard, the war will likely give the political and public will for Ukraine to fast track a lot of reforms far sooner than it would normally take, so I don't expect them to join any time soon but, once the war is resolved, I suspect we will see rapid progress in Ukraine, in a sense, Putin will give them focus to do what's needed to join without the foot dragging. As for Armenia, I don't see much of a reason why they couldn't join, but, geographic does play a part in what countries can join, in that I suspect the EU would want countries that are boarded with other EU members to join before bringing in countries that are a distance away, normally, that's how I think the EU would be on this, but times have changed, Russia is making noise and I think the EU needs to be more flexible in helping to stabilise the region, joining the EU would go a long way in doing that, so yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if they let them in at some point, it would also have the effect of putting more pressure on Turkey to get its act together if they really want to join the EU some day, it sends the message that they can join if they do the reforms needed.
2