France says that it does not want to block Turkey’s accession talks during its EU Presidency. “Negotiations will go on,” French officials confirm, indicating that two or three chapters could be opened in the second half of the year. However, they immediately add that only those negotiating areas which are not “directly related to accession” will receive a green light under the six-month French Presidency.

If Paris succeeds, five new chapters, covering financial and institutional matters, could be officially added to the list of areas which are currently blocked due to Ankara’s failure to fully comply with certain obligations towards Cyprus. One of these five areas has already been frozen due to the French veto. Last year, Paris said that talks on economic and monetary policy should commence only after the EU defines its future borders.

Ankara strongly protests, underlining more vocally than ever its significant and still growing “contribution to Europe’s stability”. Speaking recently in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ali Babacan emphasised his country’s strong involvement in the Middle East peace process (mediatory role in talks between Syria and Israel), in the dialogue with Iran and Lebanon, as well as its active engagement in the stabilisation process of Afghanistan and Iraq. He also underlined Turkey’s strong involvement in the EU ESDP missions and its willingness to become a member of the European Defence Agency.

Paris, however, seems to remain unconvinced by Ankara’s arguments. According to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Turkey – a predominantly Muslim country – is not eligible for full membership of the EU, as a majority of its territory is located in Asia rather than in Europe. An enhanced or so called ‘privileged’ partnership is therefore suggested by the Elysée Palace as the best form of future relations between Turkey and the EU. Ankara clearly says, however, that nothing less than full membership is acceptable.

To soften Paris’ stance, Turkey is trying to play the Union for the Mediterranean card. Without Ankara, which is perceived as a key element of Sarkozy’s proposal, the initiative is bound to lose its political weight and structural consistency. Turkey is aware of this and is trying to use the situation to its own benefit. It has not yet given Paris a clear answer on whether it would take part at all in the project, saying it is still “assessing” the contents of the proposal. Some possible retaliatory economic moves, like keeping Gaz de France out of the consortium of the Nabucco pipeline project designed to bring Caspian gas to Europe, have also been taken by Turkey against France. On top of this, Ankara is creating some difficulties about the use of Turkish air space for French warplanes on mission in Afghanistan. In the meantime, deteriorating military relations with Turkey, a member of NATO, pose a threat to Paris’ plans to reinforce relations between the alliance and the EU.

To counterbalance France’s opposition and to win over other member states, Ankara has recently made some positive moves towards Cyprus and Armenia. It gave the green light for the relaunch of talks between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities on reunification and has said it “is ready for a dialogue with Armenia”.

FAST PROGRESS ON CROATIA

Unlike Slovenia, which held the reins of the EU in the first half of the year, France is not involved in any bilateral disputes with Croatia. It is expected therefore that accession talks will go according to plan. “We will try to proceed as fast as possible,” a French diplomat told Europolitics.“We do not foresee any problems with regard to Croatia,” she added. Both Paris and Zagreb are facing, however, a challenging task, since by the end of the year Croatia has to open negotiations on all remaining chapters to be able to join the EU in the first half of 2011. Otherwise, accession will be delayed.