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POSITIONS EU MEMBER STATES STILL TOO FAR APART
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2006 18:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to
decide how to penalise Turkey for barring Cypriot ships and planes
from its ports and airports.
The European Commission has proposed that parts of Turkey's EU
membership negotiations should be frozen.
Some members want a hard line taken on Turkey, which does not recognise
the Cypriot government. But others are reluctant to open up a rift
over the Cyprus question, which has dogged Turkey's EU accession
talks. Finland, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency,
has been trying to find ways of persuading Turkey to open its ports
to Cypriot traffic in a first step towards recognition. But Turkey
has refused to do so without steps to start direct trade between the
EU and the Turkish-controlled breakaway republic of northern Cyprus.
"I personally don't expect that we will reach a conclusion today,"
said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier before Monday's
meeting in Brussels. "The positions of the European member states -
some of them at least - are still too far apart for that."
Britain, Spain and Sweden are believed not to want Turkey penalised
too harshly, while Austria, France and Cyprus want to take a hard
line. Germany has been pushing the idea of a review clause, that
would fix a time for the EU to discuss again whether Turkey has met
its obligations. If the foreign ministers fail to reach agreement,
it will be up to heads of state to try to resolve the problem at
their summit on Thursday and Friday, reports the BBC.
PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2006 18:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to
decide how to penalise Turkey for barring Cypriot ships and planes
from its ports and airports.
The European Commission has proposed that parts of Turkey's EU
membership negotiations should be frozen.
Some members want a hard line taken on Turkey, which does not recognise
the Cypriot government. But others are reluctant to open up a rift
over the Cyprus question, which has dogged Turkey's EU accession
talks. Finland, the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency,
has been trying to find ways of persuading Turkey to open its ports
to Cypriot traffic in a first step towards recognition. But Turkey
has refused to do so without steps to start direct trade between the
EU and the Turkish-controlled breakaway republic of northern Cyprus.
"I personally don't expect that we will reach a conclusion today,"
said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier before Monday's
meeting in Brussels. "The positions of the European member states -
some of them at least - are still too far apart for that."
Britain, Spain and Sweden are believed not to want Turkey penalised
too harshly, while Austria, France and Cyprus want to take a hard
line. Germany has been pushing the idea of a review clause, that
would fix a time for the EU to discuss again whether Turkey has met
its obligations. If the foreign ministers fail to reach agreement,
it will be up to heads of state to try to resolve the problem at
their summit on Thursday and Friday, reports the BBC.