[Strengthandhonour]

France won't block EU talks with Turkey
Published: Wednesday, 30 May, 2007, 08:26 AM Doha Time PARIS: France does not plan to stop the European Union from opening new policy “chapters” in Turkey’s accession talks next month despite President Nicolas Sarkozy’s opposition to Turkish membership, an official said yesterday.
A presidential official said Sarkozy had other priorities that he wanted to tackle first within the European Union before confronting the issue of Turkey.
Turkey’s entry talks have been dogged by disputes and the EU has suspended talks on eight of 35 policy areas, or “chapters”, due to Ankara’s refusal to open its ports to EU member Cyprus.
Sarkozy could effectively freeze the negotiation process by preventing the European Union from opening three new chapters next month, but the French official said Paris was not planning to go down this route.
Sarkozy indicated on Monday that he did not want to get into an immediate fight with EU partners over Turkey and preferred to focus initially on finding a deal on institutional reform and on discussing economic governance within the euro zone.
“The real rendezvous (on Turkey) will be in December 2007,” Sarkozy told reporters. An official later said he was referring to the final EU summit of the year, which will be held in Brussels under the Portuguese presidency.
Looking to calm tensions over his adamant opposition to Turkey’s membership bid, Sarkozy dispatched his top diplomatic adviser, Jean-David Levitte, to Ankara on Sunday to explain France’s position.
“The fact this visit took place so soon after the telephone call shows the importance France attaches to preserving a direct dialogue and to French-Turkish relations,” a French diplomat in Ankara said.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry official confirmed the Ankara talks had taken place. “Bilateral and regional issues were discussed,” the official said, declining to give more details. – Reuters

source: Gulf Times – Qatar’s top-selling English daily newspaper - Europe/World