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October 3, 2005
EU: Austria Accepts Bribe
Update at 8pm GMT
The fairly optimistic posting below, was made this morning, before noon, GMT. The situation has changed. An article posted this afternoon in the Times explains how the deal was done. This morning, with no agreement from Austria, and protesters gathered outside the conference in Luxembourg, the chances of negotiation talks even beginning seemed nigh-on impossible. At noon, the expected celebrations prior to the talks, scheduled to go ahead at 3pm, were abandoned. Abdullah Gul, the Turkish Foreign Minister, had decided at first not to arrive, but after the announcement of Austria's agreement, he told CNN - Turk news agencies that he would be flying in for the delayed celebrations.
The issue which persuaded Austria was the decision to allow its ally, Croatia, to also begin negotiation talks on joining the EU. In March, when Croatia did not hand over war crimes suspects, the nation was suspended from the process. Now it is included, and it seems that if Turkey does decide to go ahead with negotiations, then we will have two new nations for the price of..........
A report from Cyprus' FinancialMirror states
No details have yet been released, but it is understood that Austria has backed down over a clause allowing for the option a privileged partnership that would fall short of EU membership.Turkey is now studying the text before it gives its response. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously said that Turkey will not bother starting talks if anything short of full membership is offered.
EU leaders agreed unanimously last December 17 that Turkey could start accession negotiations on October 3 if it fulfilled certain conditions, including signing the extension of the EU-Turkey customs agreement to all new member states. Membership talks are expected to last at least ten years.
Reuters relates how Jack Straw spoke of the talks being "on the brink of a precipice".
Turkish financial markets rose with hopes of a deal after yo-yoing all day with the uncertainty. Stocks, which had fallen some 2.3 percent from Friday's close, ended up 1.9 percent as Ankara studied the draft agreement. The lira and bonds also recovered earlier losses against the dollar.
Erdogan got rather snappy in a press conference, televised on Channel 4 news this evening, and even sounded as if his words had a veiled threat within:
In Ankara, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting of the ruling AK party that Turkey was not prepared to compromise further on the conditions for opening the long-awaited talks.When Abdullah Gul is in Luxembourg, there may be signs that things may deteriorate. Personally I hope they do, and I know that most European citizens, especially those protesting, share that view. This is an adapted update from the article Turkey: Special Report"Those in the EU who cannot digest Turkey being in the EU are against the alliance of civilisations. What I declare is this: the costs resulting from all this will be paid by them.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 3, 2005 3:30 PM
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