France Blocks Turkey's Path

Turkey was being set up as the main casualty of French and Dutch rejection of the EU constitution last night when France seemed to put the brakes on Ankara's 40-year dream of joining the union.

As European leaders prepared to kick the constitution into the long grass at their summit this week, the French foreign minister said it would be difficult to admit Turkey if the measure falls.

Philippe Douste-Blazy told the French daily Le Figaro: "Without the treaty, it seems to me difficult to add more countries when the rules of communal living between us are not clearly defined. It is one of the elements of the absorption capacity of the European Union. After the French referendum, we must reflect on this type of thing."

Britain, which has championed Turkish membership in the face of opposition from political leaders in France and Germany, is determined to press ahead with accession talks on October 3.

Without the constitution, however, it will be difficult for Turkey to join because the EU is limited to 27 members under the "fall back" procedures of the Nice treaty. The EU will reach this number when Romania and Bulgaria join in 2007.

The challenge facing Turkey was highlighted yesterday when EU enlargement was at one point omitted from a draft statement which European leaders will issue at the end of their summit this week.