Austrians to vote on Turkey's EU bid

[poiuytrewq0987]

Austria will hold a national referendum on Turkey's accession to the European Union whatever the outcome of talks between Brussels and Ankara, Austria's chancellor said on Tuesday.

"Even in the case of a positive decision after the negotiations between the EU and Turkey, we will organize a referendum in Austria on this topic," chancellor Werner Faymann said in a statement after hosting Turkish President Abdullah Gül on the second day of a state visit.

For Turkey to join the 27-member European bloc, "fundamental values like freedom of opinion, human rights, democratic participation and freedom of the press must prevail unconditionally," the chancellor said.

Gül, for his part, underlined at a Austro-Turkish economic forum Tuesday the potential trade advantages his country's EU membership may hold for European states - including for Austria whose commercial exchange with Turkey has tripled since 2001.

Turkey opened accession talks with the EU in 2005. However, out of the 35 policy chapters that candidate countries must negotiate, Turkey has opened talks on only 13. Eight chapters remain frozen as a sanction to Turkey's refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot vessels under a trade pact with the EU, with France blocking several others in line with its vocal opposition to Turkey's accession.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.p...bid-2011-05-04

[The Lawspeaker]

And I hope they will vote against it (and I trust they wil). Europe for the Europeans.

[Svanhild]

Excellent news from our fellow South Germans. Rejection of EU membership of potential Turkey is vigorously high. 73% don't want to see Turkey as a EU member. http://www.news.at/articles/0453/10/...mitgliedschaft

[Äike]

I have been to Turkey and there's nothing European about it. The Turks are completely foreign people to us.

The Estonian government supports Turkey in joining the EU, that's sad.

[The Lawspeaker]

Governments and the will of the people are two completely different things.

[Äike]

Governments and the will of the people are two completely different things.

Maybe in the UK or Germany, but (in most cases) not here.

[The Lawspeaker]

We'll see. So the Estonian people support the government in bringing Turkey into the Union ?

[Äike]

We'll see. So the Estonian people support the government in bringing Turkey into the Union ?

Probably not(but I could be wrong), but that's only one thing. In most cases, the will of the people and the will of the Estonian government is the same.

Estonia is a very democratic country, not pseudo-democratic like the UK.

[The Lawspeaker]

So.. also in Estonia. The will of the people and the government are not the same thing. You just showed that.

[Äike]

So.. also in Estonia. The will of the people and the government are not the same thing. You just showed that.

If that would be true, the Estonian people would vote for the biggest opposition party, which has radically different views than the current coalition.