Hi Annamaria,
The trading agreements in the constitution were clearly crafted keeping in mind the entry in the EU of the countries in waiting and their contribution to the creation of a “self sufficient” Euro Zone in terms of imports and, for example, oil dependency to the Middle East. The inclusion of Turkey, Russia, other ex-USSR countries, etc., will most likely move the EU in that direction.
Make no mistake about it. The inclusion of Turkey, Russia, and some other ex-USSR countries has much more to do with access to oil and other energy resources than it does with economic trade within the region. I was reading something the other day regarding suspected, but unproven, vast oil deposits thought to lie extremely deep within the eastern reaches of the Mediterranean Sea, and well offshore from any European countries, making discovery and drilling quite difficult, if not impossible using today's technologies. But, in theory anyway, tomorrow's technologies just might be able to prove or disprove any existence of oil deposits, and the next day's technologies might allow the countries within the EU to tap into this pool, presuming that it does exist. Similar theories abound for potential resources within the Black Sea, the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea. So the inclusion of Turkey and Russia (in theory anyway) is extremely important to EU self-sustenance.
It would follow thusly that the EU is doing nothing more here than "underwriting" a potential insurance policy for their own future vis a vis availability of future energy needs. Probably not a bad move when viewed from their perspective. And, it goes without saying I suppose, that one of the greatest fears of the EU is that the USA and China (with some help from India) will "lock up" all of the world's existing (proven reserves) oil and gas supplies, leaving little room for the EU to compete for available energy supplies in the not so distant future (perhaps within the next 10 to 25 to 50 years).
KJC |
