Sweden criticizes France’s Turkey stance, backs its EU bid

Swedish prime minister Göran Persson repeated that Turkey should become a full member of the EU the moment the country once it meets the necessary political and democratic criteria.

And he criticised recent calls from leading members of the centre-right UMP party in France for Turkey to be kept out of the EU.

"I think that is irresponsible", Mr Persson said.

"In my opinion it is absurd that we send money to the EU which is spent in regions with a higher economic standard – for example, Ireland", said Mr Persson, according to Swedsih daily Dagens Nyheter.

Speaking to an audience of political scientists from all over Europe at Uppsala University, he stressed that Sweden should show economic solidarity with the new member states.

"The money that we are willing to send to Brussels must be spent mainly on creating infrastructure and supporting the agricultural sector in the new member states", he said.

And he reiterated that member states who pay more to Brussels than they receive (the so-called "net-contributors") should not have to dig any deeper into their pockets. This would "create tensions", he said.

Sweden was one of six member states to sign a letter calling for a cap in the EU’s budget and has recently launched an initiative with the Netherlands to make current EU member states pay for their own poorer regions after enlargement.