Europe’s malaise offers risk and opportunity for Turkey

The EU and Turkey should look beyond stalled accession talks and towards a new partnership that encompasses energy integration and carbon alignment

Europe remains an economic heavyweight, but its strategic relevance is fading. Growth is weak, energy costs are punitive and its defence still rests on Washington’s shoulders. The central question is whether Europe can reinvent itself as a credible pole in energy and geopolitics, or whether it will remain a regulatory superpower but a political dwarf. For Turkey, the stakes are particularly high. Europe’s weakness is a risk, but it may also be an opportunity to build a new kind of partnership—one that preserves the acquis communautaire (EU law) and Turkey’s gains to date but moves away from the divisive and unrealistic promise of EU accession. Instead, the way forward is a dynamic, strategic