ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION

Türkiye’s EU Expert
HOME PAGE » AGENDA » 2024 » IKV ORGANISED A WEBINAR ON EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS
14 Haziran 2024

IKV ORGANISED A WEBINAR ON EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS

IKV organized a webinar titled "European Parliament Election Results, The Effects and Importance for Türkiye" on 14 June 2024. In the webinar, the EP election results and the possible effects on Türkiye-EU relations were discussed.

In the opening speech of the webinar, which was moderated by IKV Deputy Secretary General M. Gökhan Kilit, IKV Chairperson Ayhan Zeytinoğlu shared data on the EP election results, gave information about the current parliamentary structure and made general evaluations about the elections. Chairperson Zeytinoğlu discussed that despite the EU's Green Deal and sustainability policies, the rise in the voting rates of the far right is remarkable and that the disaggregated decision-making structure in the parliament reduces the ability to act collectively in future decision-making processes. Finally, Chairperson Zeytinoğlu expressed that far-right politics will be decisive in the elections to be held in EU member states in the coming period.

IKV Deputy Secretary General M. Gökhan Kilit stated the participation rates in the 2024 EP elections to be similar to the previous elections and shared information about the number of seats held by the political groups within the EP in the previous period and the current number of seats. Noting that the far-right movement has increased throughout the EU and that the situation in Scandinavian countries is being reversed, Kilit introduced the speakers of the panel section he moderated.

The first speaker of the webinar, TEPAV EU Studies Center Director Nilgün Arısan Eralp, started her speech by stating that the European voters reflected an identical tendency in local elections to what they reflected in the EP elections. Eralp made evaluations about voters’ behavioural patterns emphasizing the fact that no other factor governs the voter’s behaviour than the tendencies they reflect in local elections. Even though the far-right increased its voting rate, the majority is still held by the centre-right groups, as stated by Eralp while she added that the reason for decrease is the discontent developed against climate policies. Moreover, Eralp stated that the prominence of the far right in Germany and France, the two most influential countries in decision-making processes, is the main cause of concern, and continued her speech by stating that the results of the EP elections may have effects on issues such as military aid to Ukraine, the defence budget, and the slowdown of the green transformation and enlargement. Eralp also expressed that the EP election results may not have a significant impact on relations with Türkiye, a key player in handling immigration in the Eastern Mediterranean and noted that bilateral relations might progress at the level of cooperation on the immigrants’ issue.

The second speaker of the first part of the panel, IKV Secretary General Assoc. Prof. Çiğdem Nas started her speech by stating that the far-right trend, which has been influential in Europe since the 1990s, was also apparent in these elections. Underscoring that the election results can be evaluated within the framework of the reactions of EU citizens towards their governments, Nas pointed out that dissatisfaction with the Green Transition was especially effective in this result. Nas emphasized that the Green Deal is not just a climate strategy, but a growth strategy for the EU as it helps to increase and maintain EU’s competitiveness, and Nas underlined that although there might be some setbacks in the green transformation depending on the election results, the Green Deal will continue in its entirety. Stating that the EU should increase its internal integration to become a competitive actor, Nas added that the far right could negatively affect this effort and push the EU in a more sovereignist direction. Considering the enlargement policy, Nas commented that the opinions regarding immigration might prevent the enlargement and concluded her speech by noting that increased support for enlargement could be possible by moving towards a less federated EU structure.

The third speaker of the panel section was Prof. Selcen Öner from Bahçeşehir University and Öner started her speech by stating that even though the right-wing parties differ among themselves on the issues of the Russia-Ukraine war and foreign policy, the common point they share is the need for externalization and securitization of migration. Öner stated that the rise of the far right is largely dependent on factors such as neoliberal policies, unemployment and housing costs, and noted that parties used such obscurities to increase the number of votes. In addition, regarding the fact that the far-right increased its votes; Öner expressed that the enlargement policy in Europe might be negatively affected, the possibility of visa liberalization for Türkiye may disappear, and therefore the visa facilitation discourse by both parties may come to the fore. Referring to Türkiye's need for a new discourse and strategy, Öner underlined that the EU does not only constitute a foreign policy element for Türkiye, but also an element that affects many developments in domestic politics, while also adding that cooperation at the local government level might also be advantageous.

The last speaker in the panel section was Assoc. Prof. Ebru Turhan from Turkish-German University. Turhan pointed out the shift towards the right and stated that a period that will make the legislative processes in the EU difficult is around the corner. Indicating that the political parties within the EU are trying to increase their popularity by shifting their discourse to the extreme right, Turhan said that European voters exhibit similar attitudes in national and parliamentary elections and that the rise of the far right may lead to the politicization of Türkiye-EU relations. Stating that issues not mentioned before in Türkiye-EU relations may become agenda topics and that cooperation with Türkiye might be constructed under the framework of externalizing the migration issue and giving rewards in return. Furthermore, Turhan noted that the strengthening of the far right in Europe may have a negative impact on Türkiye's country reports and that Türkiye’s accession process could be used as a bargaining counter within election propaganda throughout Europe.

The webinar ended with a question-and-answer session.