Thursday 5 July 2007

Now French EU Accession Talks Resume with Turkey

On 26th June, accession talks resumed with Turkey. The process, which began in October 2005, was partially suspended in December 2006 after Ankara refused to open its ports and airports to aeroplanes and ships from Cyprus.

The EU decided to suspend discussion on eight of the thirty-five “chapters” in the accession talks. Before the partial suspension, talks had been concluded on one “chapter”, on science and technology, while another, on enterprise and industrial policy, was opened in March 2007 but not completed.

France, however, has ensured that there will be no discussions on economic and monetary policy with Turkey. France opposes the entry of Turkey into the EU and has said that there is therefore no point talking about the euro. The other chapters, Paris says, might form the basis for a “privileged partnership” with Turkey which, it hopes, will be adopted instead of full membership.

Meanwhile, negotiations are continuing with Croatia: six “chapters” have been opened and two completed (science & research; education & culture). [Thomas Ferenczi, Le Monde, 26 June 2007]

---- An excerpt from John Laughland's Intelligence Digest. For a free e-mail subscription to the Intelligence Digest, please click here. ----

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