Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a senator from the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) and a former foreign minister of France, told French RCF radio that a constitutional provision specifically targeting a certain country is a mistake, the Anatolia news agency reported. "We have talked about this issue in our group. Many members of our group are against this amendment," Raffarin said. "A certain country cannot be pointed out in a national constitution."The French National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, last week passed a package of constitutional amendments including a provision to make a referendum obligatory for accepting new EU member countries with populations over five percent the bloc's total population, which currently stands at about 500 million. With its population of 70 million, EU candidate Turkey appears to be the specific target of the clause.
The provision needs to be approved first by the Senate and a majority of both houses. The senate deliberations on the package are expected to take place next week. If eventually approved by the senate and a majority of both houses, it will make France the first country in the world whose constitution contains clauses specifically targeting a foreign country.
The controversial amendment is a divisive issue within the French government. French State Secretary in Charge of European Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet has warned that the plan to submit Turkey's bid to join the EU to a referendum is an "insult" which could spark a serious rift between Paris and Ankara.
If the plan goes ahead, Turkey might spurn President Nicolas Sarkozy's project for a Mediterranean Union to improve links between European countries and states around the Mediter-ranean rim, including Turkey, Jouyet said in an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) late Thursday.
"Parliament is sovereign and it does what it wants, but by taking the risk of this amendment, we are taking the risk of a more serious rift than we think with Turkey," in particularly in terms of trade, Jouyet was quoted as saying by AFP. "If they feel that it is France ... which is creating the obstacle, it will be difficult for them to feel really at ease in the Mediterranean Union," he said.
Socialist opposition deputies and some members of the UMP objected to the amendment during its first vote in the National Assembly. Earlier this week, Ankara condemned the French Parliament's move, warning Paris over the negative consequences of adoption of the clause by the French Senate on "traditional friendship between the peoples of the two countries."
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, keen not to lose the vote of the French-Armenian electorate, pressed for guarantees against Turkey's possible accession to the EU and proposed the amendment in question.
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