Bagis rules out any eventual outcome in Turkey's EU accession besides full membership

Just as a woman is either pregnant or not – nobody is half-pregnant – nothing could replace Turkey's eventual European Union membership, Chief Negotiator for EU talks Egemen Bagis told a Hungarian daily this week. "We consider it an insult when European countries talk about a 'special partnership' because this doesn't exist. How would you feel if I offered you something that doesn't exist?" asked Bagis, who visited Hungary last week for talks ahead of the country's upcoming EU term presidency. Even EU legislation uses the terms "candidate for membership," "negotiating country" and "member country," pointing to how there is no alternative to membership, he said. "At the end of the accession negotiations, we will either become a member or not, there's no middle ground," he added. Although not every EU member supports Turkey's admission, whenever a new negotiating chapter is opened, this is done through unanimous consent of the 27 members, Bagis continued. "This shows that they all understand the importance of the accession process even if they don't share the same view of the outcome," he argued. "For us, the process is more important than the outcome."