France puts brakes on EU-Turkey talks

"At the demand of the German presidency and the European Commission, the chapter on economic and monetary policy has been withdrawn from the agenda of the meeting of ambassadors," the diplomat said, on condition of anonymity.

"Given France's reservations, the presidency must have decided that it was too early to put the chapter on the agenda," he said.

An EU official confirmed that the 27-member bloc's ambassadors had given the green light for talks on the two other chapters -- "statistics" and "financial control" -- to begin on Tuesday.

The EU froze talks with Turkey on 35 policy areas, or chapters, which candidates have to complete before membership, because of Ankara's on-going trade dispute with Cyprus.

The bloc decided to continue discussion on chapters not linked to trade policy but these may only be opened and not closed until the Cyprus problem is resolved.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy opposes Turkey's entry into the European Union, and has proposed instead that a Mediterranean Union be created which Ankara could be part of.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner reiterated last week that France only wanted two new chapters to be opened this month.

Predominantly Muslim Turkey began its often-troubled EU membership talks in October 2005. The process will take at least a decade and Ankara has been given no guarantee that it will even be allowed to join at the end of it all.

French voters rejected the EU's draft constitution in a referendum two years ago in part because of concerns that large, relatively poor countries like Turkey would be allowed to join Europe's rich club.