Alternatives required! European Union membership policy in the context of relations with Turkey

In light of recent developments in Turkey, the debate on alternatives to full EU membership, presented for example in Germany as privileged partnerships or in France as a Mediterranean Union, remains current. The new opt-outs from the Charter of Fundamental Rights and other integration policies (cooperation in police and criminal matters), agreed on 23 June 2007 in the mandate to convene an inter-governmental conference to revise the Constitutional Treaty, also need to be considered in the context of the European Union's accession policy. This is necessary because it is becoming ever clearer that with accessions to the EU following the traditional pattern, only the question of official membership is being answered, not actual membership