13/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - The subject of Turkey's European future is dividing the Christian Democrats of the CDU/CSU of Angela Merkel from the liberals in Guido Westerwelle's FDP, who are currently negotiating the formation of a new German government. Horst Seehofer, the head of the CSU, is requesting that the governmental programme stipulate that Germany is opposed to a simple accession of Turkey to the EU (Ms Merkel, as we are aware, has for a long time been calling for a privileged partnership). Mr Westerwelle will undoubtedly be the new foreign minister and is opposed to this position. The question of Turkey's accession will not be posed in the coming four years and there is therefore no need to state what the future German position on this dossier will be, explained Westerwelle. Meanwhile, outgoing German Commissioner Günter Verheugen (SPD) called on Ms Merkel to give Turkey the chance to respect the accession criteria. In the German press, Mr Verheugen stated: “I don't think that the new German government would like to be held responsible if Turkey turned away from the West”. (H.B./transl.rh)