PM to attend crucial EU summit this week

Lawrence Gonzi will at the end of this week lead a Maltese team at a crucial EU summit marking the end of the six month Dutch presidency.

The summit, in Brussels, is expected to decide over whether Turkey should start accession negotiations with the EU. Turkey is also pressuring the EU to be given a date for the commencement of negotiations. However, member states have still not agreed over the issue.

Yesterday, EU foreign ministers discussed the latest draft of the final statement to be issued by EU leaders at the December 16-17 summit. Foreign Minister Michael Frendo attended the meeting.

Sources close to the Council told The Times that EU governments are still discussing demands that Turkey should meet additional conditions in its 40-year drive to join the EU. Among the demands are Turkey's recognition of the government of (Greek) Cyprus, acceptance of a permanent cap on labour migration and acceptance that negotiations could be suspended if reforms stall.

A draft statement on Turkey, already drawn up by the Dutch presidency leaves it up to leaders to agree on the start date for the negotiations. Malta is in favour of starting negotiations although it is not yet clear whether it is in favour of giving a date at this week's summit.

The Dutch presidency is hoping that leaders will adopt the wording on negotiations favoured by the European Commission which said in October that negotiations would be "an open-ended process". The debate on the pros and cons of Turkish accession is getting fiercer ahead of the summit.

France, Austria and Denmark are insisting that the EU statement should include a reference to a fallback option of offering Turkey a special relationship if accession talks fail. However, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, along with the leaders of Spain and Italy, remain firmly in favour of Turkish membership.

Public opinion is also divided on the issue. According to a public opinion poll published yesterday in the French daily Le Figaro, people in France and Germany are predominantly against Turkey's projected accession to the EU, while the citizens of Britain, Italy and Spain are mostly favourable to the idea.

The Turkish issue is also dominating this month's session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. MEPs yesterday started debating the issue and a final vote will be taken tomorrow, just a day prior to the EU leaders' meeting.