The vexed questions of whether to support Turkey’s
bid to become an EU member and whether to hold a referendum on the
Constitution are emerging as the main issues as the European election
campaigns kick off in France.
On the first issue, the ruling centre-right UMP party, is steadfastly against Turkish entry.
Its electoral programme, recently cleared by the party membership,
says, “Turkey has no business in the European Union”, sentiments echoed
recently by the UMP leader, Alain Juppe who said last month, “The UMP
does not want to see discussions with Turkey at the end of the year”.
However the position of the UMP does not seem to be shared by the
French President (also UMP) Jacques Chirac, who has recently said that
Turkish entry is “desirable”