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France to let Turkey EU talks continue for now

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 on Tuesday.

Reuters
00:00 - 30/05/2007 Çarşamba
Güncelleme: 13:14 - 30/05/2007 Çarşamba
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France to let Turkey EU talks continue for now
France to let Turkey EU talks continue for now

A presidential official said Sarkozy wanted to tackle other tasks 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", because Ankara refuses 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.


EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn welcomed the stance.


"The new French president is demonstrating a responsible attitude. It is preferable to continue the negotiation process with Turkey," he told the French daily Le Figaro in an interview due to be published in the newspaper's Wednesday edition.


Looking to calm tensions over his adamant opposition to Turkey's membership bid, Sarkozy sent 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.


Last week, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan phoned Sarkozy to congratulate him on his May 6 election victory and to suggest they work directly with each other, not via the media.


Sarkozy has suggested that, instead of joining the EU, Turkey play a central role in a new "Mediterranean Union" he wants to create, but Ankara has rejected the suggestion.


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