58 percent of French oppose Turkish EU entry – poll

Agence France Presse — English
October 20, 2006 Friday

Nearly six out of 10 French people oppose Turkey joining the European
Union, according to an opinion poll published Friday.

The LH2 survey for RMC radio recorded 58 percent of the public against
Turkish membership and 28 percent in favour.

The poll was taken in the wake of the row over the adoption last
week by the French lower house of parliament of a bill that would
make denial of the Armenian "genocide" a punishable offence.

The bill — which now needs to pass the upper house or Senate —
has been condemned in Turkey, where it is widely seen as a sign of
anti-Turkish sentiment in France.

Friday’s poll findings were in line with a Europe-wide survey taken
in June, which put French hostility to Turkish entry at 55 percent.

However the Eurobarometer survey also indicated that opposition in
France is only slightly more than in the EU as a whole — where
48 percent are against Turkish entry — and well behind several
individual countries.

Nine states were more hostile than France to Ankara’s membership bid,
including Austria at 81 percent and Germany — which has a large
Turkish population — at 69 percent.