GERMAN AND FRENCH OFFICIALS AGAINST TURKEY’S ACCESSION TO EU
Pan ARMENIAN Network, Armenia
July 21 2005
21.07.2005 05:22
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Leader of German Christian Democratic Union Angela
Merkel and Chairman of the Union of Democratic Movement ruing in
France, French Interior Minister Nikola Sarkozi held a joint news
conference in Paris. There they stated they are against Turkey’s
accession to the EU and privileged partnership should be suggested
to Ankara instead. A. Merkel noted that before the start of the talks
with Turkey one has to clear out to which extent the country has met
the conditions referring to settlement of the Cyprus problem. She
added that the failure of the Constitution in France and Holland
evidences that the EU has to revise enlargement programs and specify
Europe’s borders. In her words, the continuation of the building of
Europe is conditioned with Germany-France relations to a high degree
and irrespective of who takes the power in Germany resulting from the
parliamentary election scheduled in autumn, the close ties between the
two countries should be preserved. As noted by the Radical Turkish
newspaper, Austrian FM Ursula Plesnik stated that an alternative
to accession to the EU should be suggested to Turkey. In her words,
this demand should be fixed in the framework convention on Turkey’s
accession to the EU being worked out.