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Berlin-Brussels Support Turkey's Full Membership |
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Written by Administrator
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Dec 02, 2004 at 03:31 PM |
Belgian Prime Minster Guy Verhoftstadt said membership negotiations with Turkey and the European Union (EU) are to decide whether Turkey can become a member or not and that no other alternative would be acceptable.
After meeting with German Prime Minster Gerhard Schroder in Berlin yesterday, Verhoftstadt said that like Germany, Belgium supports the start of negotiations with Turkey. "We will work to start membership negotiations in 2005. Membership negotiations will only be held to decide whether or not it will be a member there is no other alternative. By alternative, I mean a "privileged partnership." We already have a privileged partnership with Turkey," Said Verhoftsadt. Schroder added, "Negotiations should be carried on only about membership. We want Turkey to be accepted at the Summit on December 17th."
Elsewhere, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met in Spain recently where they declared their support for Turkey's accession to EU. At a meeting at The Hague, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkanende and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen argued that negotiations should begin without second thought and that Turkey should automatically be a member. Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot noted that the additional provisions that were on the agenda before the December 17th Summit reflect the political realities of Europe.(zaman) |
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Last Updated ( Dec 02, 2004 at 04:51 PM )
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