GERMAN AND FRENCH OFFICIALS AGAINST TURKEY'S ACCESSION TO EU

PanARMENIAN.Net - Leader of German Christian Democratic Union Angela Merkel and Chairman of the Union of Democratic Movement ruing in France, French Interior Minister Nikola Sarkozi held a joint news conference in Paris. There they stated they are against Turkey's accession to the EU and privileged partnership should be suggested to Ankara instead. A. Merkel noted that before the start of the talks with Turkey one has to clear out to which extent the country has met the conditions referring to settlement of the Cyprus problem. She added that the failure of the Constitution in France and Holland evidences that the EU has to revise enlargement programs and specify Europe's borders. In her words, the continuation of the building of Europe is conditioned with Germany-France relations to a high degree and irrespective of who takes the power in Germany resulting from the parliamentary election scheduled in autumn, the close ties between the two countries should be preserved. As noted by the Radical Turkish newspaper, Austrian FM Ursula Plesnik stated that an alternative to accession to the EU should be suggested to Turkey. In her words, this demand should be fixed in the framework convention on Turkey's accession to the EU being worked out.