Ratzinger asserts Vatican stand against Turkey EU membership
Catholic News
18 August 2004
Reflecting the Vatican view that Europe must fight to retain its
Christian identity, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has said that bringing
Turkey into the European Union would put European culture at risk.
“Europe is a cultural and not a geographical continent,” he said.
“Turkey always represented another continent throughout history,
in permanent contrast with Europe,” so to equate the two continents
“would be a mistake,” he told the magazine of the French newspaper
Le Figaro in an interview published last week.
Turkey has been a candidate for European Union membership since 1999,
but EU officials delayed negotiations to discuss its accession until
more progress has been made in economic, political and human rights
reforms. Whether Turkey, a mostly Muslim nation, can join accession
talks is set to be decided by the 25-state European Union later
this year.
Cardinal Ratzinger, who presides over the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, said Europe is united by its “culture which gives it a
common identity. The roots which formed … this continent are those
of Christianity.”
SOURCE — Vatican official: Adding Turkey to European Union would
hurt culture (Catholic News Service 16/8/04)
LINKS: – Ratzinger says Turkey has no place in EU (Online Catholics
18/8/04)
– Cardinal Ratzinger: Identifier la Turquie à l’Europe serait une
erreu (Le Figaro 13/8/04)
– Cardinal: No place for Turkey in EU (AlJazeera.net 11/8/04)
– Catholics Criticize Cardinal’s Turkey Comments (Zaman Online 14/8/04)
– Vatican meddling in the EU (International Herald Tribune 16/8/04)
– Vatican tries to exclude Turkey for EU’s Christian Identity
(Turks.us 16/8/04)
– Turkey’s EU membership argument (BBC 9/10/02)
European Union | Enlargement | Turkey
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