Erdogan's push for Turkey's EU membership is being met with skepticism
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan renewed his country's bid to become a member of the European Union, amid wrangling over Sweden's NATO entry, but political experts aren't completely convinced of the Turkish leader's aims.
Erdogan surprised many on Monday by linking Sweden's bid to join NATO with his country's accession to the EU. He said European nations should "open the way" for Turkey to join the political bloc in exchange for Ankara's approval of Sweden to be a member of the military alliance. But these are two completely different processes for two very separate institutions.
"I was quite surprised he linked this," Maria Demertzis, senior fellow at the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, told CNBC Tuesday. "You are throwing a fish net to see what you can get," she said of Erdogan's move.
Turkey and the EU have had a challenging relationship over the years. Ankara applied to be part of the EU back in 1987 but, after several bumps in the road, talks to join the political group froze in 2018. The EU deemed that Turkey was putting forward a lot of political reforms that actually moved it "further away" from the bloc.
One of the policy changes that infuriated the EU was a 2017 referendum that gave Erdogan more executive powers.
"He needs money," an EU official, who did not want to be named due to the sensitive nature of the topic told CNBC Tuesday, regarding why Erdogan brought up this issue again now. "All this new friendship with the West. He has not changed. He wants something," the same official added.
A spokesperson for the Turkish representation office in Brussels was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Source: CNBC
