Vatican official: Adding Turkey to European Union would hurt culture

Published: 2004-08-16

PARIS (CNS) -- Bringing Turkey into the European Union would put European culture at risk, said a top Vatican official. "Europe is a cultural and not a geographical continent," said Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. "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 Aug. 13. Turkey has been an official candidate for European Union membership since 1999, but E.U. officials delayed negotiations to discuss its accession until more progress had 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, a German, said Europe is united by its "culture which gives it a common identity. The roots which formed ... this continent are those of Christianity."

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