02 October 2004	Saturday	16 Shaban 1425

STRASBOURG, Oct 1: President Jacques Chirac further stirred debate over Turkish membership of the European Union Friday with a declaration that he favours a change to France's constitution in order to guarantee a national referendum to approve Ankara's accession.

The president, who has said he is personally in favour of Turkey's eventual adhesion, was speaking after talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that also focussed on the deteriorating security situation in Iraq and the next round of EU budget negotiations.

"I have asked my government to examine ways of inserting (into the constitution) a text stipulating that after a certain date - before Turkey's eventual membership - the French public be compulsorily consulted on new admissions to the EU," he said.

Chirac said that the clause - which would be appended to the constitutional revision required by the adoption of the EU's new constitutional treaty - would not apply to the next three member states, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia, which are expected to join in 2007.

He also said it was not specifically aimed at Turkey - though the issue of Turkish membership has become a subject of fervent debate ahead of a December decision from Brussels on whether to open accession talks, and senior members of Chirac's government have themselves called for a national referendum on the issue.

Chirac's initiative was being seen as an attempt to separate the question of Turkish membership from the wider issue of the EU's new constitution, whose approval at a French referendum in the second half of next year is far from a foregone conclusion.

According to an opinion poll this week, some 56 percent of the French public are opposed to Turkish entry with only 36 percent in favour, and the government fears the question will cloud debate in the run-up to the treaty referendum, making a no vote more likely. -AFP