By Henrietta Billings - 3rd December 2004
Paris and Berlin will put forward a joint position on Turkey’s EU membership at a summit of Europe’s leaders in two weeks time.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac held talks on Thursday ahead of the December 16 summit when EU leaders are expected to give the go-ahead for Turkey to begin accession negotiations.
Schroeder told reporters after the meeting that they recognised that the process was “open-ended”, but said that "our goal is membership” - even though negotiations could take 10 - 15 years.
Chirac said that Paris and Berlin, “shared the same objective, which is to get Turkey into the EU, because it is in everyone’s interest to have a strong, solid Europe, which is sure of its borders.”
But the French president also warned that "if conditions are not met, negotiations will be broken off"
Both leaders face strong domestic opposition to Turkey’s EU entry.
Chirac's own UMP party leader, the newly elected Nicolas Sarkozy is opposed to full Turkish membership, and wants to see the country "associated" with Europe - similar to German Christian Democrat calls for a "priviledged partnership" - not full EU membership.
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