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Wednesday, November 29 2006 @ 07:16 AM Central Standard Time
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European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said that Turkey's accession talks with the EU would slow down but would not stall completely after the Finnish plan for the Cyprus deadlock failed on Monday.
Finland, the holder of the rotating EU presidency, announced on Monday that it had failed to overcome the Cyprus impasse because the Turkish government refused to open its ports to traffic from Greek Cyprus.
The failure to open ports threatens to derail Turkey's membership bid to the 25-member bloc.
"Unfortunately, we have come to the conclusion that at this stage circumstances do not permit that an agreement could be reached during the Finnish Presidency," Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja told reporters yesterday in Tampere, Finland.
''The Commission thinks negotiations cannot be completely stopped. The train will slow down, but not stop. This is not a business as usual situation," Rehn said in a speech at Helsinki University.
The Finnish plan envisaged the opening of Turkish ports to Greek Cyprus in return for lifting economic isolations imposed on Turkish Cyprus and opening the city of Varosha (Maras). |
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