Publication

In 2005 the EU and Turkey officially started accession negotiations that were intended to lead to Turkey’s full membership of the EU. Yet today, the Turkish accession process has virtually ground to a halt and lost all credibility. This paper discusses four alternatives to full membership, instances of so-called ‘parallelism’, and their respective characteristics. The authors conclude their analysis with a discussion on Turkey’s possible membership of the European Economic Area, which in effect would serve none of the parties involved. They conclude that both partners, the EU and Turkey, would be well advised to remember their pre-accession commitments of 13 years ago – for their mutual benefit.