EU head Finland signals support for partial shelving of Turkish talks
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Oluşturulma Tarihi: Aralık 05, 2006 13:41
EU term president Finland has announced that it supports the shelving of part of Turkey's membership accession talks, as suggested by the EU Commission last week. Speaking today, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said that he backed the EU Commission's recommendations as a result of Turkey's failure to comply with additional protocol measures calling for it to open air and sea ports to Southern Cypriot trade.
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Vanhanen did not however signal support for recent French and German suggestions that Ankara be given an 18 month period in which to open its ports, following which a general review would be made of the Turkish accession talks.
Said Vanhanen, "Even if we are up against a difficult period, the Turkish accession talks must proceed." Finland had spent much time until recently trying to come up with a diplomatic solution to the Cyprus problem. Its efforts ended unsuccessfully, with Vanhanen making one last visit to Ankara last week before returning empty handed to his country.