Chirac Moves to Side with ‘Referendum for Turkey’

The French press reported yesterday that Chirac and Raffarin are considering an amendment to the French Constitution that would allow a referendum to be held regarding Turkey’s membership. The press linked this proposal to the leaders’ attempts to prevent a negative outcome in the EU Constitution referendum. It is suggested that such a move will put French voters at ease.

Meanwhile, Raffarin told the Wall Street Journal that he has reservations about the ability of Turkish society to adapt to European values. He had previously said that he would support a referendum for Turkey’s membership when the time is right.

Yesterday’s edition of the leftist French newspaper Liberation claims that Chirac is concerned that the start of membership discussions with Turkey would adversely affect the chances of the EU Constitution’s passage in France. The paper suggests that the French president is working on a change in the French Constitution regarding future EU members. Sources close to Chirac told the paper that after the approval of the EU Constitution, the French president plans to bring this issue to the forefront during discussions over the French Constitution.

Le Monde on the other side writes that Raffarin will launch a campaign to enlighten the public in the next few days.

In addition, Le Figaro reports the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party discussed the suggestion for an inner-party referendum on both the EU Constitution and Turkey prior to 2005 in order to assuage the public. The article indicates that UMP thinks the main opposition Socialist Party (SP) will imitate the UMP and also hold a referendum. The UMP is optimistic that referendums by both parties would cause the Turkish issue’s stranglehold on French politics to diminish.

On the other hand, reading the Turkey move of the ruling party as an investment for upcoming elections, SP Secretary-General François Hollande insisted that the UMP refrain from scaring the voters with Turkey. Results of a pubic poll released the other day (September 28) suggest that more than half of the French populace do not support Turkey’s EU membership.

Hollande said that a referendum should be held for not only Turkey, but also for Bulgaria and Romania. The latter two countries are scheduled for EU accession in 2007.

French Economy Minister Sarkozy, who is expected to assume leadership of UMP in November, advocated that a referendum should be conducted only for Turkey. "These are our two East European brothers. Holding [a referendum] for them makes no sense."