France: EU Should Give Ankara a Concrete Message

De Villepin supported Turkey’s participation in the Intergovernmental Conference, where the constitution draft, prepared by the EC, will be discussed and approved. He stressed the importance of the participation of all countries in the forum, and showed support for the inclusion of Turkey, a candidate country, in the discussions about the EU’s future.

Ten candidate countries will be participating in the Intergovernmental Conference on May 1, 2004, while Bulgaria and Romania, commencing negotiations with Brussels, will be present as observers. However, Turkey’s status is still unclear. Diplomatic sources indicated that five European nations, Germany, France, England, Spain and Italy, and term president Greece supported Turkey’s attendance at the conference and it was likely that such a decision would be taken at the Thessaloniki Summit.

Selcuk Gultasli / Brussels / BELGIUM