Today’s Zaman, Turkey
June 7 2008

French Senate may block anti-Turkey referendum clause

A significant number of senators from the French ruling party are
opposed to a constitutional amendment that makes a referendum on
eventual accession of Turkey to the European Union compulsory, a
French senator has said.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a senator from the ruling Union for a Popular
Movement (UMP) and a former foreign minister of France, told French
RCF radio that a constitutional provision specifically targeting a
certain country is a mistake, the Anatolia news agency reported. "We
have talked about this issue in our group. Many members of our group
are against this amendment," Raffarin said. "A certain country cannot
be pointed out in a national constitution." The French National
Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, last week passed a
package of constitutional amendments including a provision to make a
referendum obligatory for accepting new EU member countries with
populations over five percent the bloc’s total population, which
currently stands at about 500 million. With its population of 70
million, EU candidate Turkey appears to be the specific target of the
clause.

The provision needs to be approved first by the Senate and a majority
of both houses. The senate deliberations on the package are expected
to take place next week. If eventually approved by the senate and a
majority of both houses, it will make France the first country in the
world whose constitution contains clauses specifically targeting a
foreign country.

The controversial amendment is a divisive issue within the French
government. French State Secretary in Charge of European Affairs
Jean-Pierre Jouyet has warned that the plan to submit Turkey’s bid to
join the EU to a referendum is an "insult" which could spark a serious
rift between Paris and Ankara.

If the plan goes ahead, Turkey might spurn President Nicolas Sarkozy’s
project for a Mediterranean Union to improve links between European
countries and states around the Mediter-ranean rim, including Turkey,
Jouyet said in an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) late
Thursday.

"Parliament is sovereign and it does what it wants, but by taking the
risk of this amendment, we are taking the risk of a more serious rift
than we think with Turkey," in particularly in terms of trade, Jouyet
was quoted as saying by AFP. "If they feel that it is France … which
is creating the obstacle, it will be difficult for them to feel really
at ease in the Mediterranean Union," he said.

Socialist opposition deputies and some members of the UMP objected to
the amendment during its first vote in the National Assembly. Earlier
this week, Ankara condemned the French Parliament’s move, warning
Paris over the negative consequences of adoption of the clause by the
French Senate on "traditional friendship between the peoples of the
two countries."

Sarkozy, the former leader of the UMP, is a vocal opponent of Turkey’s
bid to join the EU, saying it does not belong to Europe. The
constitutional reform package originally abolished a clause calling
for a referendum on all future accessions to the EU and left the
decision on the matter to the president. But UMP lawmakers, keen not
to lose the vote of the French-Armenian electorate, pressed for
guarantees against Turkey’s possible accession to the EU and proposed
the amendment in question.