Turkey's bid for EU membership dominates Chirac-Schroeder meeting

Turkey's bid for the European Union (EU) dominated informal meeting between French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Strasbourg on Friday.

The two leaders affirmed their common points of view on the positive side of a democratic Turkey's EU bid for the European Union and the Middle East region in the fields of security, peace and democracy.

"We have an interest in having Turkey with us, " Chirac said. "It opens the perspective of democracy and peace taking root on the whole of the European continent -- in the wider sense of the term -- so that we avoid the mistakes and violence of the past."

Five days before the European Commission is to give its opinionon opening negotiations with Angaka, Chirac declared favorable to changing France's constitution in order to require a national referendum on Turkey's EU bid.

The referendum would come at the end of Turkey's admission negotiation.

Schroeder judged the French position "very comprehensible", adding that Germany's constitution obstructs such a referendum on the Turkish issue and that there's also debates in Germany on whether to change the constitution.

A majority of the French is opposed to Turkish entry to the European Union, while a poll showed Thursday that 62 percent of German public would be for such a referendum.

The two leaders meeting also talked about the finance prospective of the 25-member bloc for the period from 2007 to 2013.Chirac said that it ought to show solidarity to news members.

Concerning Iraq, Chirac and Schroeder were likely to discuss a planned international conference on organizing elections in Iraq.

They also warmly congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putinon his decision to say yes to the Kyoto Protocol, which can not take effect unless Russia signs.

After their talks, the two leaders celebrated at the City Hall of Strasbourg the 60th anniversary of the city's liberation in 1944, another gesture of Germany to join France after D-Day ceremonies on June 6 to commemorate Europe's liberation from the Nazism in World War II.

Chirac reaffirmed his determination to give Strasbourg all the means to be brilliant in Europe, while Schroeder qualified it as the most European city in the old continent.

This meeting is within the framework of "Blaesheim" informal consultations, which were installed in February 2001 to boost the French-German motor for the European Union (EU) construction.

Source: Xinhua