France risks EU row over human rights in Turkey
By Daniel Dombey in Brussels and Vincent Boland in Ankara

FT
March 22 2006 16:31

France is pushing the European Union to take a tougher line on human
rights in accession negotiations with Turkey in a move the European
Commission fears will damage relations with Ankara.

EU leaders are also facing calls from Paris to thrash out a new, more
rigorous strategy for enlargement ` an issue that foreign ministers
will discuss at a summit on Thursday night.

Some members of Germany’s ruling Christian Democrats also back the
plan, saying the EU would only be able to admit big new member states
to the 25-nation bloc after major institutional reform, such as that
envisaged in the proposed constitution rejected by French and Dutch
voters last year. Angela Merkel, German chancellor, recently
downplayed the hopes of western Balkan countries of full EU
membership.

The French initiatives deepen the Commission’s concerns that Paris and
its allies are seeking to frustrate Turkey’s bid for membership a mere
six months after the EU agreed to begin the accession process.

`Some member states want to introduce new goal posts in a
non-transparent manner,’ said a senior Commission official. `This may
backfire because it is not considered in Turkey that we are playing a
fair game.’

Paris insists it is acting in good faith and does not seek to obstruct
the negotiations. It adds that worries about enlargement played a
large role in the French public’s rejection of the European
constitution in a referendum last year and that leaders need to
consider seriously the limits of the EU’s capacity to absorb new
members.

`This is not a question of stopping enlargement,’ said a senior French
diplomat. `This is a question of showing that someone is flying the
plane.’

The first French push is to link negotiations on education and culture
` normally one of the least contentious parts of enlargement talks `
to human rights criteria.

Paris says the education and culture `chapter’ has to take account of
human rights issues, such as Turkish textbooks that treat minorities
as untrustworthy.

The Commission and countries such as the UK respond that it is unfair
to add new conditions to negotiations that have traditionally focused
a state’s record in adopting EU laws.

Although the EU’s 25 member states have agreed to start another
chapter ` on science and technology ` no negotiations have started,
because the current Austrian presidency of the EU would like to begin
talks on both chapters at the same time.

But the larger issue is whether the question of human rights will
overshadow almost all of Turkey’s negotiations with the EU, instead of
mainly being dealt with in chapters on fundamental rights and justice
and home affairs.

An opinion poll last week showed that support in Turkey for EU
membership is slipping. Although some 66 per cent of Turks still
support entry, the trend is downwards, as it has been almost since
Turkey secured its negotiations last October.