BRUSSELS - Austria caused problem in opening of full membership talks soon between Turkey and the European Union (EU) during preparation of Turkey section of the EU summit final statement.
Diplomatic sources said Austria harshly opposed to the section which said, ''EU reiterates its commitment to start full membership negotiations with Turkey without losing any time in case it meets Copenhagen criteria.''
Austria particularly wanted the expression ''without losing any time'' to be excluded from the text.
Nevertheless, as the other members of the EU did not support this view of Vienna, this section remained the same as was foreseen before.
Diplomatic sources consider France and Austria as problematic countries regarding start of full membership negotiations.
Meanwhile, it was reported that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is planned to have tripartite meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac prior to the EU Commission's report in October.
Diplomatic sources said Erdogan is scheduled to pay an official visit to France on July 19, and will again go to Paris before the report in October.
Sources said Erdogan is expected to deliver a speech in IFRI institution which makes researches in international relations.
(AY) 19.06.2004