How Widespread is this Point of View?

[Occhidiangela]

"Lithuanians might also be different at least at this point, but the difference is that they will fit in eventually, and the Turks won't."

You see this looking through your crystal ball? Or is there some argument behind this assertion?

-Jester
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If Ashock won't, I'll offer a modest argument, based on my modest exposure in Europe to this topic. I was involved in considerable detail with NATO expansion 1995-1998, and the Partnership for Peace program.

Lithuanians have enough related "common cultural assumptions" that don't include the heritage of the Caliphate, nor Islam, (which the Turks have in their history and cultural weave) to the rest of Europe North of the Alps to make the reasonable assumption that they'll be a closer cultural fit than Turkey. There are also plenty of unique Lituanianisms to make their addition to the European weave bumpy at first.

Whether or not the cultural affinity is a good criterion related to EU membership depends on what one's goals for the EU are. Is the focus on Europe and things uniquely European, or on Union, which harkens back to an economic Union, and hence connotes to many a purely economic motif. The euro, for example, is a mechanical, economic, not a cultural thread. As some wag once said:

Gold knows no culture.

Occhi