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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union nations
failed again on Friday to agree on a response to
Turkey's refusal to recognise EU member Cyprus, a
major problem ahead of the launch of membership
talks with Ankara on Oct 3.
Envoys to Brussels of the 25 EU states met for about
one hour but were unable to approve a new draft
declaration on Turkey's stance towards Cyprus,
diplomats said.
"The meeting of the ambassadors is over. There has
not been any major shift in the countries'
positions," one diplomat said.
The tough stance taken by Cyprus, which wants the EU
declaration to include deadlines for Ankara to make
progress in recognising it, helped prevent an
agreement, another diplomat said. Cyprus was backed
by Greece and the Czech Republic, another EU
diplomat said.
Britain, the current EU president, had proposed that
the pace of the accession talks would depend on
Turkey implementing "contractual obligations to all
member states."
That suggested Turkey would have to implement its EU-wide
customs union agreement with Cyprus, something
Ankara has not yet done.
But the proposal did not define the contractual
obligations, potentially opening the way for
disputes on how fast negotiations with Turkey should
proceed.
"Failure to implement (Turkey's) obligations in full
will affect the overall progress in the
negotiations," said the British draft, a copy of
which was obtained by Reuters.
CUSTOMS IMPASSE
Turkey refuses to recognise Cyprus's Greek Cypriot
government, which represents the whole of the island
in the EU, and instead supports a Turkish Cypriot
breakaway state in the north of the Mediterranean
island.
Cyprus wants the EU declaration to include deadlines
for Ankara to make progress in recognising the
Cypriot government -- though this was not a
precondition for Turkey to start accession talks.
Cyprus is also pushing Turkey to allow its vessels
into Turkish ports. Ankara agreed to do that in
July, meeting the last precondition for accession
talks, but it has not yet implemented that accord in
the case of Cyprus.
The British draft of the EU's "counter-declaration"
calls on Turkey to remove "all obstacles to the free
movement of goods, including the restrictions on
means of transport".
"The EU will monitor this closely and evaluate full
implementation in 2006," the text said.
If the EU envoys fail to agree on the
counter-declaration early next week, the bloc will
probably convene a meeting of foreign ministers on
September 26 to thrash out a compromise.
The EU declaration would accompany a document
setting out the technical terms for the negotiations
with Turkey, which EU members still need to agree by
unanimity.
EU-wide opinion polls have shown falling public
support for Turkey's bid, despite predictions that
negotiations would last at least 10 years.
Turkey says it will recognise Cyprus only after a
broad international agreement, possibly sponsored by
the United Nations, to end the division of the
island.
Reuters
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