Italië wenst doorgang toetreding Turkije, ook als Frankrijk nee tegen EU-grondwet zegt (en)

The Italian foreign minister has said that a rejection of the draft constitution in the French referendum should not stop the EU from membership talks with Turkey, which are set to kick off on 3 October this year.

In an interview with the FT, Gianfranco Fini maintained that Italy was a "supporter of Turkey's accession" and suggested that the EU should press ahead with its plans, even though, "politically speaking, this would be difficult".

He pointed out that Ankara had undertaken a series of crucial reforms, and that a further rejection from Europe could be seen as a push towards fundamentalism.

"We can't say No just because they are Muslim. The accession of Turkey would be a sign of the full compatibility of Islam with democracy", Mr Fini is quoted as saying by the FT.

Not a day later, requests the Turkish President

On the eve of the Day of Europe, 9 May, the Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer also urged EU leaders not to postpone the start of his country's negotiations.

"There should be no doubts that Turkey will do whatever is up to her to ensure that the negotiations proceed sucessfully", he said in a statement.

"We expect our European friends to display the same caution and we hope the EU will act with the sense of responsibility that our relationship of more than 40 years requires".

Meanwhile, Czech President Vaclav Klaus recently advised the Turks not to leave EU negotiations on accession treaty details entirely up to the diplomatic corps.

Speaking at a conference last week, Mr Klaus said his own country made this mistake, treating its own accession talks as a foreign policy issue only.