Turkey’s membership in EU cold bring to a clash between France and Sweden
30.05.2009 12:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ French President Nicolas Sarkozy has canceled a
visit to Sweden reportedly because he wanted to avoid a clash with
Swedish leaders over their support of Turkey’s membership in the
European Union.
Sarkozy’s office said the visit was canceled due to scheduling
problems, but French newspaper Le Figaro said on Thursday that the
French leader, an outspoken opponent of Turkish accession to the EU,
did not want to publicly highlight disagreements over Turkey when he
meets with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
On Monday, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told Le Figaro that the
EU had "a strategic interest" in Turkey’s EU integration and warned
against "closing the door" to Ankara, Today’s Zaman reported.
The leaders of Germany and France, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy
denounced the idea of expanding the European Union indefinitely to
include new members such as Turkey. `A Europe without borders would be
a Europe without identity,’ the French President emphasized.