Turkey's Eu Hopes Hit Trouble Again
Turkey's troubled negotiations on joining the EU hit further difficulty yesterday as Austria tried to place the brakes on enlargement and a veteran European leader warned talks may have to be frozen.
Turkey's troubled negotiations on joining the EU hit further difficulty yesterday as Austria tried to place the brakes on enlargement and a veteran European leader warned talks may have to be frozen. As EU leaders gathered for their mid-summer summit, the Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel underlined misgivings at the prospect of Turkish membership by tabling proposals that would stiffen entry conditions.
Under the proposal the requirement to consider the EU's "absorption capacity" every time a new member is admitted would become a strict criterion.
Chancellor Schuessel's proposal is unlikely to be accepted because at least 13 other countries at the summit do not want to put such an obvious block on Ankara. If it joined Turkey would account for around 20% of the EU's population.
The unease about Turkey was highlighted when Jean Claude-Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, warned that membership negotiations should be called off if Ankara refuses to open ports and airports to Greek Cyprus.
"If Turkey were not to implement this condition this year my view is that the negotiations will have to be postponed," he told the French newspaper La Croix.
Mr Juncker is a veteran EU fixer who chairs the Euro group of finance ministers which is becoming one of the most influential bodies in the union. His comments reflect deep concern in the EU that Turkey appears to be reneging on its commitment to open up its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus by the end of this year.
Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, told the BBC: "First of all [it will be] very demanding for them but also demanding for us here to be ready to accommodate such an important big country that is seen by so many of us as culturally different from let's say mainstream Europe."
Matters may come to a head in the autumn when Olli Rehn, the EU enlargement commissioner, issues his annual report on how Turkey's membership talks are proceeding. Mr Rehn has warned of the danger of a "train crash" in the negotiations.
Under the proposal the requirement to consider the EU's "absorption capacity" every time a new member is admitted would become a strict criterion.
Chancellor Schuessel's proposal is unlikely to be accepted because at least 13 other countries at the summit do not want to put such an obvious block on Ankara. If it joined Turkey would account for around 20% of the EU's population.
The unease about Turkey was highlighted when Jean Claude-Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, warned that membership negotiations should be called off if Ankara refuses to open ports and airports to Greek Cyprus.
"If Turkey were not to implement this condition this year my view is that the negotiations will have to be postponed," he told the French newspaper La Croix.
Mr Juncker is a veteran EU fixer who chairs the Euro group of finance ministers which is becoming one of the most influential bodies in the union. His comments reflect deep concern in the EU that Turkey appears to be reneging on its commitment to open up its ports and airports to Greek Cyprus by the end of this year.
Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, told the BBC: "First of all [it will be] very demanding for them but also demanding for us here to be ready to accommodate such an important big country that is seen by so many of us as culturally different from let's say mainstream Europe."
Matters may come to a head in the autumn when Olli Rehn, the EU enlargement commissioner, issues his annual report on how Turkey's membership talks are proceeding. Mr Rehn has warned of the danger of a "train crash" in the negotiations.
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