Cardinal Ratzinger raised a valid issue

At the end of this year, EU leaders will decide whether to open membership negotiations with Turkey. An EU Commission report on Turkey is expected in October. Malta will be among those deciding whether the EU should give the green light to Turkey.

Since being launched in 1989, Turkey's membership application has raised a number of negative and positive reactions. One thing is certain: it cannot be claimed that the issue of Turkey's membership has not been debated at EU level.

For many the question of Turkey's membership is not an easy meal for the EU to digest. Turkey is too big, too poor and too Muslim. While the EU is still in the process of assimilating Poland with its manifold economic problems as well as all the former Communist Eastern bloc countries, to further compound things with Turkey will be most inopportune.

Some sources also think that the omission of a reference to Christianity in the new European Constitution was a positive step in order to keep religions completely out of the secular EU and thus preclude religion from dividing people.

In Malta, where people seem to be eternally preoccupied exclusively with local politics - or life in the ghetto, as some would have it - the issue has been muted. It is difficult to understand what the Government's or Opposition's views on the matter are and why. The Government has declared itself in favour of Turkey's membership as far as we can gather.

So the extremely controversial statement reportedly made by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that Turkey should not attempt to join the European Union because of its Islamic culture could have stirred things up a bit locally. Disappointingly, it did not.

Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on a visit to Georgia, rejected the Cardinal's comments claiming that as the Holy See was not a member of the European Union, its opinion on EU policies was not applicable. For Turkey's sake one hopes that Mr Erdogan has not committed the same mistake made by Stalin before him when he cynically asked "How many divisions does the Pope have?"

The Catholic Church enjoys a lot of influence in the EU even though it is not a member state.

To echo Cardinal Ratzinger's main worry, with which many agree, the main problem is with Europe. Europe, ever unsure of its own identity is ready to welcome in its midst a country which is ever so sure of hers. The second problem is Turkey itself. Is the country ready for membership? It seems not.

Let us focus on the first problem. Since the EU has been incapable of recognising its own Christian heritage and identity which is the foundation of its values, particularly of individual freedom on which our democratic societies are constructed (what has been called a secular Christianity) it showed its complete ineptness to supply a satisfactory answer to the question "Who am I?"

That is why we are becoming the laughing stock of the world. According to some Europeans - who bend over backwards to avoid giving a straight answer to the question of "What is Europe?" - Europe is limpid, colourless, odourless, has no character or identity and mixes well with practically everything. "What is Europe?" - A fruit salad, a macedonia! "A bit of this and that." We disagree completely.

So how can a Europe which does not know how to properly define itself, find the proper ways of relating to the different cultures in its midst and on its borders? That is worry number one.

The second worry is Turkey itself. The country is clearly not ready for membership - neither economically nor politically. This is not saying that it will never be. Economic development is still very uneven in Turkey and though the country has made spectacular progress there is still a lot that has still to be done before it can become eligible for membership. The magnitude of the problem should not be underestimated.

Another related challenge is even bigger. It is that of establishing a true democracy in Turkey. Over the past few years Turkey has introduced a number of important political reforms that have improved its position in the democracy scale. Fine! But has democracy become a way of life in Turkey? The answer is No.

So leaving aside the geo-strategic importance of Turkey and the old question of whether it is possible for an Islamic country to blend well with a predominantly Christian Europe, the main test that Turkey must pass with flying colours is the democracy one.

The European Commission's 2003 Report on Turkey showed all too clearly that the country is still a couple of decades from catching up with the EU democracies. Though there have been plenty of legal reforms Turkey has still a lot to do before democratic practice becomes ingrained in its social and political tissue.

Once that is achieved, once the military are brought fully under civilian control, once ethnic and religious minorities, including Christian communities, are no longer discriminated against, once women enjoy full rights, once the rule of law becomes an instinctive form of behaviour, a way of life, once corruption has been rooted out and everyone is satisfied that democracy is really working in Turkey then that will be the day when the country should be admitted into the EU.

And then we will not have to worry about Turkey's Islamic culture or its size. Democracy and the rule of law will iron out any difficulties that may arise as a result of the cultural divide. But until that happens, many Europeans have a lot to worry about. Islamic Turkey as such poses fewer challenges to Europe than a half-baked or non-democratic Turkey. So we need to get our bearings right on Turkey and we need to speak out.

A Christian Europe is tolerant and pluralistic enough to allow ethnic and religious minorities, or substantially large culturally different and large communities like Turkey the freedom to exist freely within it. But a half-baked democracy of 80 million in the midst of the EU will be ruinous.

So people like Ratzinger or Giscard D'Estaing, eccentric as their public statements may appear, should not be condemned for blowing the whistle when everyone else is keen on keeping a deafening silence or on sweeping such potentially damaging challenges under the EU carpet. Admitting Turkey before deep changes have been allowed to take root in that country may spell the end of the EU.