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ANKARA: French lawmakers approve referendum clause against Turkey

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  • ANKARA: French lawmakers approve referendum clause against Turkey

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    May 31 2008


    French lawmakers approve referendum clause against Turkey


    French lawmakers have voted to pass an amendment to constitutional
    reforms apparently aiming to block any eventual Turkish membership in
    the European Union.

    Under the amendment tabled by deputies from the center-right UMP
    party, holding a referendum would be obligatory for approving the EU
    accession of any country whose population exceeds 5 percent of the EU
    population, which stands at about 500 million. With its population of
    70 million, EU candidate Turkey will be affected by the referendum
    clause.

    The French National Assembly, the lower house of the French
    Parliament, approved the amendment with a 48-21 vote late on
    Thursday. The provision, if eventually approved by the Senate and a
    majority of both houses, will make France the first country in the
    world whose constitution contains clauses specifically targeting a
    foreign country.

    The Socialist opposition voted against the measure, which won backing
    from most, but not all, UMP lawmakers. "This proposal dangerously
    targets a certain country," said Socialist parliamentarian Manuel
    Valls during the National Assembly session. Another Socialist
    lawmaker, Rene Dosiere, called the provision "disgraceful and
    shameful."

    "If in a referendum tomorrow the French say, 'No,' to Turkey's [EU]
    membership, while the 26 other countries say, 'Yes,' what will remain
    of Europe?" his colleague Serge Blisko was quoted as asking by
    Internet news portal EUobserver.com.

    An opponent of the measure within the UMP, Bruno Le Maire, criticized
    it for targeting Turkey. "Many eyes are fixed on us now -- those of
    our compatriots, but also those of peoples from the world wondering
    whether we will really introduce in our Constitution an arrangement
    targeting implicitly a particular country," Le Maire said, according
    to EUobserver. "[If the US put into its constitution an article]
    targeting Mexico, Columbia or any other country, then France -- the
    country of human rights -- would be shocked. I am now afraid that our
    neighbors might be [shocked] by this new arrangement," he added,
    before the vote took place.

    After the debates on the constitutional reform proposal and its
    amendments in the French Assembly, the text will be brought before the
    French Senate and a final decision is to be taken by a three-fifths
    majority of the two bodies gathered for a parliamentary meeting in
    July. In order to reach the three-fifths majority, the UMP needs to
    secure the backing of the Socialists as well.

    French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the former leader of the UMP, is a
    vocal opponent of Turkey's bid to join the EU, saying it does not
    belong to Europe. The constitutional reform package originally
    abolished a clause calling for a referendum on all future accessions
    to the EU and left the decision on the matter to the president. But
    UMP lawmakers, most of whom rely on votes from the French-Armenian
    electorate, pressed for guarantees against Turkey's possible accession
    into the EU and proposed the amendment in question. Besides Turkey,
    the amendment would also affect EU hopeful Ukraine, home to
    approximately 46 million.
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