LONDON – Turkey's approval of Sweden's accession to NATO has reopened the debate on the possibility of opening negotiations between Turkey and the European Union for Ankara's accession to the bloc, negotiations that have reached more than once deadlocked.

Statements by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, in support of this membership, as well as from some politicians in the West, made the question "Will Turkey become a member of the European Union?" again legitimate.

Al Jazeera Net asked this question to two senior experts in the history of Turkish-European relations, about the seriousness of the European Union in launching new negotiations with Turkey to join the Union, and did Turkey's approval of Sweden's accession to NATO bring closer the distance between Ankara and Brussels to approve Turkey's membership?

First step

David Finimore, professor of European politics at the Royal University of Balfast, goes back to the history of negotiations between Turkey and the EU, saying that at the moment there is no real debate or clear orientation on whether the EU will accept Turkey's membership.

Fenimore attributed his conclusion to several reasons, perhaps the most important of which is the conviction of the Union that there are very few indications that Turkey is taking serious steps to obtain membership in the European Union, pointing out that in 1999 the European Council in Helsinki said that Turkey is destined to join the European Union when it meets the conditions and indeed negotiations began in 2005, which means that the European Union was ready to deal seriously with Turkey's aspirations to join.

Fenimore threw the ball in Turkey's court, not the EU, when he said Turkey would have to convince the EU that it was serious about implementing "political and economic reforms," and then the EU would be under pressure to fulfill its previous commitments to accept Turkey's accession, but currently there is no such pressure.

Fenimore expects Turkey's approval of Sweden's accession to NATO to have a "slight impact," and the EU is unlikely to do much to satisfy Turkish demands.

The expert in Turkish-European relations said that the European Union is likely to consider improving relations with Turkey after it was recently damaged.

stalemate

Dimitar Peshev, a professor at Oxford University, asserted in his statement with Al Jazeera Net that the negotiations between the European Union and Turkey "have reached an impasse and will not be revived again," adding that what will take place is new negotiations in order to renew the refugee agreement that was signed between the two parties in 2016.

The professor, an expert in the files of Turkey, Russia and the Balkans, believes that the Turkish position on Sweden's accession, which has moved from rejection to acceptance, will not be costly for Turkish President Erdogan on more than one level, stressing that Turkey will not get in return for this position any positive step from the European Union, even if it comes to the single market or the entry of Turkish citizens without a visa to the European Union countries.

As for the European Union, David Finimore confirms that there are clear differences of opinion among member states about their desire to see Turkey as a member state of the European Union, pointing out that each country in the Union has the veto right to revive negotiations or open the membership file again.

"There are countries that have an opposition that they do not hide about Turkey's accession to the European Union, and this will make a European consensus difficult to achieve," he said.

The spokesman concluded that there is a divergence in political views, as well as a state of caution and apprehension between a number of European countries and Turkey.