Strasbourg, 16/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 15 February, the French minister for foreign affairs, Alain Juppé, pledged his country's support for Serbia receiving the status of European Union accession candidate country at the next General Affairs Council on 28 February. During a speech to the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee he said: “France considers that the progress accomplished, including the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and dialogue with Kosovo will lead to the granting of candidate status to Serbia at the Council on 28 February.” He added: “This will help make progress to normalising the situation with Kosovo, which is also a European goal.”
Juppé was much more negative with regard to Turkey's accession. The minister justified his position by explaining: “The French position has not changed - our crisis confirms that the political project we have for the European Union would not survive the accession of such a large country.” He further explained that there was a consensus among the French parties on the subject and concluded: “Turkey itself is now looking far beyond the Union.”
Turkey - international partnership. The French foreign minister explained that the European Union had to strengthen its political dialogue with Turkey. He said: “I have asked Catherine Ashton to invite Ahmet Davutoglu to the Foreign Affairs Council (27 February) so that we can coordinate our efforts on Syria and also tackle the question of Iran and the transition in Afghanistan.” The minister explained that it was also in the interest of the EU to make progress on the positive agenda, “particularly on the question of migration and a dialogue on visas, which began with facilitation in exchange for the signing of the European Union-Turkey readmission agreement”. (CG/transl.fl)