Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Could Turkey Actually Join the EU?" video.

  1. They could join someday, the problem is under the current leadership, they are going backwards not forwards on EU membership. There is also the religion aspect, which is holding them back in doing a lot of the reforms needed, hence why after 50 years of them trying to join, they are no closer now then they were back then. The truth is, when it comes to joining the EU, there is no fast tracking to speed things up as such, the pace at which a country can join the EU is really dependent on the country in question doing the reforms and changes needed to join, some countries implement the reforms needed a lot sooner than other, some take forever like Turkey, you see this with the current crop of EU members, some joined a lot sooner than others once talks started, mainly because they got stuck in with the reforms, this is also the case for Ukraine or any other wannabe EU member, there is no fast tracking apart from what they do themselves to fast track things. Another factor in why Turkey or no country can join the EU at the moment, the institutions of the EU needs reforms with treaty change, especially on veto rules and European Parliament powers, which really should be expanded at the expense of the Commission. The rest from countries wanting to join the EU but it's taking so long for them to join, maybe they should look in the mirror at the reforms, or lack of reforms that need to be done, but the simple truth is, joining the EU isn't a simple sign up and you're in, you have to overall your entire political, economic and social system to qualify, for countries that are less western, the reforms needed are massive, but the benefits are massive as well. In any case, Erdoğan really shot himself in the foot if he honestly thinks threats and holding other countries to ransom on joining NATO is going to fast track EU membership talks, in fact, it's likely to do the opposite, because the EU is a club of cooperation, working things out to find a deal that most or all are happy with, even if it means watering things down, what Turkey did with Sweden's NATO membership is no different from how Hungary is willing to use unrelated policy matters to carry favours in other areas, Hungary is a country that is likely going to get kicked out of the EU one way or another unless they change, so what made Erdoğan think that tactic would bring Turkey closer to EU membership? He's actually pushed Turkey further away from EU membership with that tactic, and maybe that was his plan, because as a dictator, being in the EU won't be in is interested in protection to his position of power and will very likely use this tactic on the people of Turkey to turn them against the EU, all in the name of protecting his own power base, something that would be much harder to do if Turkey ever joined the EU. So the reality is, Turkey is further away from EU membership it's ever been and it's all thanks to Erdoğan and his games.
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