EU membership: French President Jacques Chirac faced new attacks yesterday over his support for Turkey's EU membership.
Opponents said he had failed in a television interview to ease concerns over Turkey's entry bid, expect to be launched at a European Union summit today, and the issue could cloud a referendum on the EU constitution in France next year.
Mr Chirac strongly backed Turkey's candidacy in Wednesday's interview although he said entry talks could take up to 20 years, any member-state could stop the negotiations at any time and French voters would have the final say in a referendum.
"I heard what the president said with sadness and anger," Mr Francois Bayrou, head of the centre-right UDF party, told RTL radio. Regretting that Mr Chirac had not given the French parliament more of a say in shaping national policy on Turkey, he added: "This is a monarchy. And many French people do not want to live under a monarchy, even a presidential one."
Far-right leader Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen suggested Mr Chirac was out of step with public opinion in France, referring to him as an "extremist supporter" of Turkey's membership bid.
"The French people can only condemn this euro-global fanaticism, which is contrary to their national heritage, and twice vote no in the next referendum - no to the constitution and no to Turkey in Europe," he said in a written statement.
If France votes against the constitution some time next year, it could torpedo the treaty because it requires the support of all member-states, and further damage France's standing in the EU.
The opposition Socialist Party boosted the constitution's chances of being approved by voting this month to campaign for the treaty. But Chirac is wary because voters used regional and European Parliament elections earlier this year to show their frustration with the conservative government.
The Socialists said Mr Chirac's interview had done little more than address opposition to Turkey's entry bid in his governing Union for a Political Movement. "This interview seems to us clearly to be a call to order in his ruling party," Socialist Party spokesman Mr Julien Dray said.
French people criticise Ankara's human rights record, fear cultural and religious differences, and worry what Turkish immigrants will flood Europe if Turkey joins the EU.
An opinion poll published by the French newspaper Metro yesterday put opposition to Turkish entry at 72 per cent.
Mr Chirac won some backing over his interview. Mr Bernard Accoyer, head of the UMP's group of parliamentary deputies, said: "The head of state defended an ambitious vision for France and the European Union in a multipolar world."