STRASBOURG (AFP) - President Jacques Chirac said that he favours changing France's constitution in order to require a national referendum on Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
Speaking at a press conference with Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Chirac said he has asked his government to look at ways of adapting the constitution so that the admission of all new EU members must be submitted to a vote in France.
A clear majority of the French public is opposed to Turkish entry to the European Union, and the French government fears the issue will influence a referendum planned for next year on the EU's new constitutional treaty.
Chirac repeated his view that Turkey's eventual admission to the European Union is to be welcomed, but said it would take between 10 and 15 years for the country to carry out the reforms required by Brussels.
"We have an interest in having Turkey with us, " Chirac said. "It opens the perspective of democracy and peace taking root on the whole of the European continent -- in the wider sense of the term -- so that we avoid the mistakes and violence of the past."
Schroeder said he shared the French position on Turkish entry.