French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday that France would not oppose new negotiations between Turkey and the European Union, but remained resistant to full Turkish membership. Sarkozy said such negotiations should include discussion of membership or a weaker alliance between Turkey and the EU, and said they should only take place after an EU-wide «reflection» on the future of the 27-member union. «If this essential reflection on the future is launched by the 27, France will not oppose new negotiations between Turkey and the European Union in the coming months and years,» Sarkozy said at an annual conference of French ambassadors where he laid out his plans for French foreign policy. He added that the next «chapters» of negotiation should be «compatible with the two possible visions of the future of their relationship: either joining (as a member) or any association as tight as possible without attaining membership,» Sarkozy said in a speech opening an annual conference of French ambassadors. Sarkozy, who in the past vowed to halt Turkey's membership bid, reiterated Monday his preference for a weaker kind of partnership. His stance on the issue runs against that of a majority of EU leaders, who back entry negotiations with Ankara, the Associated Press reported.
