The prospect of membership has been the EU’s single most effective foreign policy tool. In their desire to join the EU, countries across the European continent have consolidated democracy, opened up their economies, strengthened their public administrations, and improved relations with their neighbours. The accession process has worked wonders in Central and Eastern Europe, helping these countries to move from chaotic post-Communism to orderly EU membership in a decade and a half. The EU could do the same for Turkey, provided it stops dragging its feet. Turkey has been trying to move closer to the EU for 40 years. If EU leaders postpone the start of accession talks once more this year, they risk undermining the usefulness of accession as a foreign policy tool. If the EU cannot offer a credible timetable for accession to a key partner like Turkey, it will lose its leverage, not just in Turkey but also in the many other countries aspiring to join the EU.
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