E.U. Needs Turkey To Become A Global Actor, Slovenia

STRASBOURG - The president of Slovenia, which currently holds EU`s rotating presidency, said on Wednesday that EU needed Turkey if it desired to become a global actor.
Speaking at a meeting of the European Parliament, Slovenia`s President Danilo Turk said Turkey`s membership negotiations should continue.
Turk also said EU should not deprive Turkey of the full membership target it had granted to the country.
Otherwise, the union`s prestige would be overshadowed, he said.
Slovenia joined the EU on May 1st, 2004, together with the Greek Cypriot administration, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Slovakia. It is actually the president of the union and will hand over the presidency to France on July 1st, 2008.
(DO-MS)