THE EU: Germany and France yesterday backed Turkey's bid to join the EU, but French President Mr Jacques Chirac kept the possibility open of an alternative to full membership if entry talks fail.
Mr Chirac and German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schröder both said they wanted to see Turkey join the EU, but they differed in tone at a news conferences.
"We both have a goal, and the goal is membership," Mr Schröder said. "Of course we know the negotiations will take a long time - a period of 10 to 15 years is always mentioned - and of course we know that the end result of the process is open. But there should be no taking away from the fact that the clear goal of the talks is entry and nothing else."
EU leaders are due to meet on December 16th and 17th to decide whether to start talks aimed at preparing the way for Turkey to join the EU, a project that has caused divisions in Europe.
Sceptics including Austria, France's ruling conservatives, and Germany's opposition conservatives have urged the EU to offer Turkey a special "privileged partner" status that would fall short of full membership. That suggestion has been rejected by Turkey.
Mr Chirac said Europe would have to be prepared to look for alternatives to full membership. "If all the necessary conditions for entry are not fulfilled, of course negotiations will be interrupted," he said.
"In that case we would have to look for a way of ensuring that this rupture did not lead to a form of separation between Turkey and Europe and we would look for ways of finding a sufficiently strong link between these two major political, economic and cultural bodies."