Controversy intensifies over Turkey

Michael Glos, parliamentary whip of the allied Christian Social Union (CSU), had said earlier this week that his party was very concerned about an early entry date, since in this case Germany would have to expect large-scale immigration from Turkey: “I can’t say that this makes us any more pro-European.“ He said the CSU would have to “rethink its position on Europe“ at a party gathering in January.
German industry is promoting both enlargement and Turkey’s timely entry. The president of industry association BDI, Michael Rogowski, said he would like negotiations with Turkey to begin as soon as possible. “For Germany’s industry, Turkey is an important strategic partner,“ he said.
The Federation of German Chambers of Commerce, DIHK, said a survey of members showed that business with accession countries was vital to many German companies. The high-technology and capital goods sectors, in particular, stood to benefit significantly thanks to rising exports, he said.
Yet Hans-Werner Sinn, president of Ifo research institute, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that “Eastern enlargement will become a big problem,“ if Germany doesn’t implement labor market reforms in response to growing competition from the East. Without a more flexible labor market, he argued, capital will be invested in the East where labor is cheaper and immigrants will take low-wage jobs.
Horst Siebert, president of Kiel Institute for World Economics, said he didn’t expect large-scale immigration as a result of enlargement. “Since incomes are going to rise further in the new member states, potential migrants are better off waiting,“ he told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Klaus Zimmermann, president of DIW institute, said it would be in Germany’s interest to introduce free movement of people quickly to address the need for qualified workers. People from the new member countries aren’t free to move for the first seven years.
EU budget commissioner Michaele Schreyer said that EU enlargement will cost Germany not even EUR1 billion ($1.03 billion) annually from 2004 through 2006, one-fourth of the total sum that current members pay for the new ones. The Copenhagen summit decided that the new members would receive EUR40.9 billion in the first three years. Since not all of this would be paid in that period and the new members would contribute EUR15 billion to the budget, net costs for current members would amount to EUR10.3 billion.
Schröder said he would focus on “actively designing“ the reform of EU institutions in cooperation with France in the hope of adopting a European constitution by the end of next year.