Austria’s new coalition, which was formed between centre-right Austrian People’s Party (OVP) and the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), has put ending Turkey’s accession process into its government program and for this purpose has been searching allies within the EU circles. This worrying situation is a prime example of the increasing short-sightedness and the lack of vision in the EU. We observe the strengthening of the far-right and shift of the centre-right to far right in Austria as we have seen in other EU member countries before. These xenophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-EU movements make the EU introverted and move away from becoming a source of inspiration for its closest neighbourhood.

It is extremely saddening that a country such as Austria, which forms one of the most important roots of the European culture, could not have a grasp on the importance of Turkey for the future of the Europe and the only proposal they come up with is ending the accession negotiations. Although we do not speculate that the proposal of the newly established government in Austria could muster up many supporters, we would like to highlight the need for the EU to develop policies with a more innovative and visionary approach towards Turkey.

Ayhan Zeytinoğlu
IKV Chairman