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Print VersionEU to open two new negotiating chapters with Turkey
17/07/2008
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The EU will open two new chapters in accession negotiations with Turkey, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country currently holds the six-month EU presidency, announced on Wednesday (July 16th). The EU will not be able to welcome any new members before adopting the Lisbon Treaty, which Irish voters rejected in June, Kouchner added. Turkey became an EU candidate country in December 1999, and accession talks started in October 2005. In 2006, the EU froze talks with Ankara on eight of the 35 chapters, saying Turkey did not meet its obligations under the additional protocol to the association agreement.
Meanwhile, the French Senate discussed a proposal Wednesday for a constitutional amendment that would require a referendum on the accession of new members to the EU, media reported. The bill, however, allows the president to decide whether to ask for a parliamentary vote instead of a referendum if three-fifths of lawmakers in the Senate and the Lower Chamber consent. (Zaman, NTV - 17/07/08, Hurriyet, Turkish Press, Reporter - 16/07/08)
