EU STUCK IN WAR OF NERVES ON TURKEY TALKS
By Mark John and Zerin Elci

Reuters, UK
Oct 3 2005

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – The start of Turkey’s historic accession talks
with the European Union was in jeopardy on Monday after EU foreign
ministers failed to overcome Austrian demands that it be offered an
alternative to full membership.

EU president Britain said ministers would try again for a deal on
Monday morning but acknowledged that the planned 5 p.m. (1500 GMT)
opening ceremony was uncertain and could well slip.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said a planned review of Croatia’s
progress towards EU entry talks had been postponed and would have to
wait until Turkey was sorted out.

“It is a frustrating situation, but I hope and pray that we may be
able to reach agreement,” Straw told a post-midnight news conference
after five hours of tough wrangling with Austria.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn played down the threat to
Turkey’s 42-year-old entry bid, saying: “I am confident we will have
a positive outcome and start negotiations tomorrow.”

But a Turkish official said nerves in Ankara were “extremely stretched
… Every minute that passes is making things more bitter and it
won’t be nice starting negotiations with all these bruises.”

With Austrian voters overwhelmingly hostile to Turkey entry, Foreign
Minister Ursula Plassnik waged a lone battle demanding that the EU
spell out an alternative to full membership, not only in case Turkey
did not meet the criteria but also if the EU felt unable to absorb
the vast, populous, poor Muslim state.

Diplomats said the 24 other members insisted they could not make
any change to the central principle that the shared objective of the
negotiations would be accession.

“Isolation and pressure is never going to work in politics. It’s not
going to work inside the European Union, certainly not. The Union
should have and must have a different style,” Plassnik told reporters
after three tense meetings with Straw.

Asked whether Austria was prepared to veto the start of talks, she
said it took all 25 member states to agree.

WALK AWAY?

Outgoing German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned his colleagues
that Turkey might walk away if the EU watered down the terms on offer
any further.

“If you want to open negotiations, you have to remember we have to
have someone to open them with,” a diplomat quoted him as telling
the meeting.

The EU has already irked Ankara by demanding that it recognise Cyprus
soon and open its ports and airports to traffic from the divided
Mediterranean island.

The European Parliament compounded Turkish irritation last week by
saying Turkey must recognise the 1915 killings of Armenians under
Ottoman rule as an act of genocide before it can join the wealthy
European family.

Fanning Turkish anxiety, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy
cast doubt in a radio interview on whether Turkey would ever join
the EU, saying the talks might end in an enhanced partnership instead.

Douste-Blazy, who stayed away from Sunday’s meeting and was not due
to be present for Monday’s planned start of talks, told Europe 1
radio that Turkey was a long way from having the same values, laws
and human rights as the European Union.

“I think it will be very hard for Turkey because we will be asking
a lot. We’re asking it to change its laws,” he said.

Straw told reporters he did not want to contemplate the possibility
of an Austrian veto. “Clearly that would represent a failure for the
EU,” he said before the meeting. “This is a crucial meeting for the
future of the European Union.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has made clear he will not
fly to Luxembourg until he has seen the negotiating mandate approved
unanimously by the EU.

EU diplomats had hoped Austria would ease its stance after voting
ended in regional elections in Styria province. Chancellor Wolfgang
Schuessel’s People’s Party lost power there for the first time since
1945 despite his brinkmanship on Turkey.

Schuessel has informally linked the Turkish issue to a demand that
the EU open accession talks immediately with Austria’s largely Roman
Catholic neighbour, Croatia.

But those talks have been frozen until Zagreb satisfies U.N. war
crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte that it is cooperating fully in
the hunt for a fugitive indicted ex-general.

In an apparent effort to increase pressure on Austria, Straw postponed
a planned meeting with Del Ponte and the Croatian prime minister on
Monday until there was agreement on Turkey.

(additional reporting by Marie-Louise Moller)