PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday softened his opposition to Turkey joining the European Union, saying France would not block negotiations on the issue.
In his first major foreign policy speech since taking office, Sarkozy stressed he remained against the majority-Muslim country's full adhesion to the EU, but had left the door open to its possible future membership unlike before.
He conditioned his stance on the EU's launch before the end of the year of a committee of high-level experts to examine questions concerning the bloc's future.
"If that vital reflection on the future of our union is launched ... France will not oppose new chapters of negotiations between the union and Turkey being opened in the months and years to come," Sarkozy said in an address to French ambassadors from 180 countries.
Sarkozy said one condition was that "those chapters be compatible with the two possible visions" of relations between Turkey and the EU: complete membership, or a more narrowly defined association.
"I'm not going to be a hypocrite. Everyone knows that I am only in favor of an association ... I think that the idea of an association will one day be recognised by everyone as being the most reasonable," he said.
Sarkozy avoided the tough talk he has used in the past when addressing the issue, previously declaring that Turkey did not have a place in the 27-nation bloc.
He also did not use the term "privileged partner" to describe Turkey's relationship with the EU. Ankara has viewed that description as relegating Turkey to second-tier status.
Sarkozy said his new stance was a workable compromise, and he warned Turkey against taking too rigid a stance on its potential membership since France could still oppose discussions.
"It is obvious that if this compromise formula were to be refused, I simply want to issue a reminder that unanimity is required for discussions to continue," he said.
In response to the remarks, the European Commission saluted Sarkozy's "contribution to the debate in progress", spokesman Amadeu Altafaj said.
Turkey carried out a series of far-reaching democracy reforms to win the green light for accession talks in October 2005, despite sizeable opposition among the European public, notably in France, to the country's accession.
A row over Ankara's refusal to grant trade privileges to arch-foe Cyprus led the EU in December to slow down the negotiations by freezing talks in eight of the 35 policy areas that candidates are required to complete.
08/27/2007 19:00 GMT