(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A majority of residents of seven European Union (EU) member nations are against Turkey’s potential accession to the continental group, according to a poll by Ifop published in Valeurs Actuelles. At least 67 per cent of respondents in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France oppose Turkey’s bid to join the EU.

More than 50 per cent of respondents in Spain, Italy and Britain are also against Turkey entering the 27-member bloc.

In October 2005, the EU officially began accession talks with Turkey. The country has been seeking inclusion for more than forty years, and filed a formal application to that effect in 1987. Since then, it has taken steps required only of members—including the establishment of a customs union—but was not accepted as a candidate state until 1999.

In October 2006, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn declared: "Our relationship with this country is schizophrenic. (...) There is in Turkey a feeling of deception, because it is thought that ‘Europeans don’t want us in the Union’. As for the Union, it is disappointed by the sluggish pace of reforms, which are not sufficiently credible, leading to suspicion in public opinion. It is a real vicious circle that I want to break and this will be difficult to do if accession negotiations are suspended."

In his Aug. 31 state of the nation address, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to re-focus the government’s attention on the EU accession bid by implementing stalled reforms, adding, "In line with the founding principles of our democratic, secular, social state that respects the rule of law, Turkey will move ahead in the direction of becoming a full member of the EU." Erdogan defined Turkey’s EU membership as a "strategic choice."

Polling Data

Do you personally favour or oppose Turkey’s accession into the European Union (EU)?

Source: Ifop / Valeurs Actuelles
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 7,007 adults in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, conducted from Jul. 29 to Aug. 25, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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