France to lock horns with Turkey

France has indicated it will block preliminary talks with Ankara on an economic and monetary union. The German EU presidency plans to open three chapters of EU legislation for discussion with Turkey before the end of its presidency this month. This was to be a sign of the EU’s continued willingness to engage with Ankara despite the decision last year to freeze talks in eight areas due to Ankara’s refusal to open its ports to traffic from member state Cyprus.

France’s newly elected President Nicolas Sarkozy however – who promised his electorate to keep Turkey out of Europe – prepares to move against Ankara’s accession process by signaling he will only let discussions start on two chapters.

“There will be no pursuit of negotiations as if nothing had been said by the president of France,” Reuters quoted Sarkozy’s new European affairs chief yesterday.

The message that France will block preliminary talks with Ankara on economic and monetary union was also conveyed to Turkey last week through diplomatic channels, the Turkish Daily News learned.

According to the Financial Times, Mr. Sarkozy’s officials in Brussels have expressed specific concern about allowing Turkey to start talks aimed at preparing the country to join the euro – an outcome the French President is not prepared to contemplate.

Ankara got a similar message from Paris through diplomatic channels that the government is unwilling to start discussions on an economic and monetary union, since it has a stronger implication of being a step in the direction of eventual membership. The other two chapters due to be open to discussion by the end of the month are statistics and financial control.

According to Turkish diplomats the blocking of talks on economic and monetary union – because it implies a further integration between Turkey and the EU – is baseless. “The participation of most of the new members to the monetary union took years and it will also take years before Turkey’s participation in the euro zone,” a Turkish diplomat familiar with the issue told the TDN.

Ankara is in touch with other EU capitals hoping to overcome the French veto.
France has asked the Turkish side not to push the issue, and said the EU could issue a separate statement that two more chapters will be opened during Portugal’s presidency, which starts next month.

European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told reporters that from the Commission’s point of view, there was no major difficulty with Turkey on that chapter.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the EU had agreed to open accession talks with Turkey and must keep its word, reported Reuters yesterday.

“We have a duty to go on with previous commitments that we’ve done,” Bilt told a news conference after a meeting of Baltic Sea foreign ministers in Malmo, Sweden.

Sarkozy has repeatedly said Turkey has no place in the EU and called for a review at a summit of the 27-nation bloc in December with a view to setting a different final objective.

Jean-Pierre Jouyet, secretary of state for European affairs, said France would allow some talks to continue for now to avoid causing problems for the German EU presidency as it seeks a deal next week on a treaty reforming the bloc’s institutions.

“It so happens that the issue is not on the table right now, and our priority is ... the success of the Germany presidency at the European Council of June 21-22, and to get out of the institutional blockage. We do not want to complicate things,” he told France Inter radio.

“As for the opening of new chapters, it is in our interest that Turkey modernizes itself independently of the issue of its accession. There are technical discussions going on today, which exist. We have to make up our minds between now and the end of June,” Jouyet added.

“There will be no pursuit of negotiations as if nothing had been said by the president of France,” he also said.

Cyprus has raised reservations about the financial control chapter because of Ankara’s refusal to recognize the Nicosia government, the diplomats said.

A spokesman for the German presidency said the enlargement decision had been left off the agenda for Thursday’s weekly meeting of EU ambassadors, the last scheduled before next week’s summit, because discussion was continuing in a working group.

European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters that Sarkozy was right not to want to risk blocking EU institutional reform by raising the Turkey issue now.

“I am confident that the president of France will stick to this position so as to let the European Council indeed deal with the EU’s most urgent priority, which is the institutional reform,” he said.