Babacan, speaking after talks with his Croatian counterpart, Gordan Jandrokovic in Ankara, said he would decide whether to attend the Association Council meeting after EU officials finalize the document for the gathering on Monday night. The meeting of the Association Council, the most prominent institution to have been established between Turkey and the EU, is scheduled to take place on Tuesday. Last year's meeting was canceled amid a political crisis in Turkey, reported World Bulletin.
France, which opposes Turkey's full membership in the EU, saying it culturally and geographically does not belong to Europe, says the word "accession" should not be included in any official text on Turkey-EU relations, including the EU common position paper prepared for the Association Council.
The current text of the 17-page document, titled "46th Meeting of the EC-Turkey Association Council: Position of the European Union," includes the word "accession" despite earlier French attempts to delete it. Babacan said the current version of the text shows "problems have been removed to a certain extent," adding that the meeting would take place on Tuesday as scheduled unless an "extraordinary development" takes place at the meeting of EU foreign ministers scheduled for Monday, at which the final text of the document will be endorsed. "There might be some member states trying to undermine Turkey's membership prospects. But it is a fact that Turkey's accession negotiations with the EU began after a consensus among all member states that these negotiations are aimed at membership," Babacan said. "It is not a pleasant development that we are now having these debates. This is not in line with the EU principle of keeping promises."
Babacan said there were contacts between Ankara and several EU countries in which the Turkish government noted its objection to a possible removal of the word "accession" in the document. He said he also had contacts with his counterparts from some countries.
News reports this week suggested that the word "accession" has been deleted from the text in line with the French position, but a recent copy of the text seen by Today's Zaman on Wednesday does include the word and EU officials in Brussels also repeated on Friday that the word remains in the text. The document is categorized as an "A point" item, meaning that it will be approved at the ministerial gathering without debate unless a member state raises last-minute objections, EU diplomats said. French diplomats also told Today's Zaman that Paris was not planning to raise any objections at the Monday meeting because the document was categorized as an "A point."
Since the election of conservative Nicolas Sarkozy as president last year, France has been at the top of the list of countries opposing Turkey's EU membership. The issue might turn into an acute problem in Turkey-EU ties when Paris takes over the rotating presidency of the EU for six months in July.
The French parliament began discussions on a constitutional reform plan that could make a referendum on Turkey's eventual membership compulsory even if Ankara fulfills all entry requirements in the next 10 to 15 years. In a provision that appears to be specifically introduced for Turkey and Ukraine, the reform package calls for referenda on accession into the EU of those countries whose population exceeds 5 percent of the EU's population, currently about 500 million people.
After the debates on the constitutional reform proposal and its amendments in the French Assembly, the text will be brought before the French Senate and a final decision is to be taken by a three-fifths majority of the two bodies gathered for a Congressional meeting in July.