European Union foreign ministers will meet in Luxembourg on October 2 in an eleventh-hour bid to finalise guidelines for membership talks with Turkey, scheduled to start a day later.
Diplomats said ministers, meeting for a working dinner on Sunday night, would focus on overcoming Austrian demands that Ankara be offered a watered-down partnership instead of full membership of the 25-nation bloc.
Vienna is also insisting that the EU should set a date for the early opening of entry negotiations with Croatia.
The decision to hold the last-minute ministerial meeting in Luxembourg was taken after senior EU officials failed once again on Thursday to approve a framework for negotiations with Turkey.
Diplomats said the delay in formal adoption of the mandate did not automatically endanger the planned start of talks with Turkey. But they warned that the negotiating guidelines must be approved by all 25 EU states for discussions to open on schedule.
”Our feeling is that this is really high drama on the part of the Austrians,” said an unidentified EU diplomat.
With municipal elections set to be held in Austria on October 2 and public feeling against Turkish EU membership running high, Vienna was anxious to make a very public gesture against Ankara, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Other EU diplomats backed the viewpoint, saying Austria was isolated in making its demands.
Vienna argues that the mandate should underline that Turkey will be offered an alternative to full membership if the EU’s capacity to absorb new members appears to be under strain or if Ankara fails to meet the bloc’s demands for rapid political change.
This is opposed by all other EU states which argue there can be no change in the bloc’s pledge last December that negotiations will aim at full Turkish accession.
The mandate under discussions points out, however, that negotiations will be ”open-ended” and that their outcome cannot be pre-judged.
Austrian efforts to link the Turkish entry talks with the start of membership negotiations with Croatia have also run into trouble with other countries.
Diplomats said Denmark and Sweden were particularly anxious not to approve any connection between the two sets of separate negotiations.
The European Commission also repeated on Thursday that there was no link between the talks with Turkey and Croatia, saying each country should be dealt with on its own merits.
EU ministers, however, have also scheduled a meeting with Carla Del Ponte, the chief war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia, on October 3.
A date for opening negotations with Croatia could be agreed if Del Ponte can reassure the EU that Zagreb is fully cooperating with the United Nations tribunal in The Hague.
European governments cancelled the start of membership negotiations with Croatia on March 17 this year following a report by Del Ponte criticising Zagreb for failing to hand over war crimes suspect Ante Gotovina to The Hague. – Sapa-DPA