Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended Wednesday his visit to France, getting France's support for Turkey's bid for the European Union (EU) and signing an agreement to buy 36 Airbus planes.

Erdogan arrived in Paris on Monday evening and was received during his three-day stay by French President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, French speaker Jean-Louis Debre and President of the Senate Christian Poncelet.

Chirac noted that Turkey had made some considerable progress and should continue and intensify its democratic and economic reforms.

Erdogan thanked Chirac for the "constructive approach" and "France's totally positive attitude."

However, French parties and public opinions do not share the same view on Turkey's entry into the European Union. Although the opposition Socialist party said Monday it supports Turkey's bid "as long as the accession criteria are respected," the ruling Unionfor a Popular Movement and its junior partner the Union for FrenchDemocracy are skeptical.

Now Turkey's application bid is approaching a critical time as the European Commission is expected to announce its view in October on a possible opening of negotiations, followed by a decision on December 17 in Brussels by European leaders on whetherenough progress has been made towards the EU's reform demands.

The 25-member EU will judge then Turkey's progress in the fields of democracy, human rights and market economy.

The Turkish prime minister also lobbied French entrepreneurs toback Turkey's EU bid and to seize the opportunities to invest in his country with a population of 70 million, when he met with a hundred of representatives of the French Movement of enterprises, France's largest association grouping 750,000 private employers from all walks of life.

His trip ended with the signing of a deal between European aircraft maker Airbus and Turkish Airlines under which the Turkishcarrier will buy five Airbus A330/200 planes, 12 A321/200s and 19 A320/200s.

Source: Xinhua