March 24, 2018•Update: March 25, 2018
By Gokhan Ergocun and Tuba Sahin
BURSA, Turkey
The EU should be enlarged from London to Turkish borders in the east, former Croatian President Ivo Josipovic said on Saturday.
Speaking at a session titled “The Future of Europe” during the 7th Uludag Economy Summit in northwestern Bursa province, Josipovic said: "Europe is not complete without Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia [and] all the other countries, including Turkey."
He said the EU needs to ask itself: "Do we want to enlarge or to make barrier on our borders?"
Former Yugoslavian's members of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia should also be allowed to join the EU, he said.
"People usually forget that the EU is not primarily thought as an economical project, it was a peace project by economical tools," he said.
He called Turkey a "huge ship" while Croatia a "small boat".
"Turkey is really big part with its economy, military, science, education, health," Josipovic said.
Therefore, it would be harder for Turkey to adapt its society to some requirements of the EU than smaller countries like Croatia.
"Secondly, Croatia, as a small country, is really concentrated on its own problem but Turkey has global ambition and it is also something influencing negotiations," he said.
The two-day summit, organized by the Capital and Ekonomist magazines, has brought together 1,200 businesspeople from around the world.
