Chirac Sets Conditions for Turkish EU Bid
December 6, 2004Advertisement
While EU officials have said that they will not talk about anything else than full EU membership with Turkey, French President Jacques Chirac said it must be clear to Turkey that negotiations could end with much less than that, according to the Financial Times. Chirac has also underlined the ultimate right of the French people to reject Turkish EU membership in a referendum. Chirac also has asked for accession talks not to start until the second half of 2005. The last demand is to make sure that the discussion on Turkish EU membership is separate from the debate on the EU constitution. A French referendum on the Constitution is expected already in spring 2005. (EUobserver.com)