Mogelijk geen Frans referendum over toetreding Turkije (en)
A senior French official has raised the question of scrapping a clause in the French constitution which says that future enlargement of European Union should first be voted on in a referendum.
"Should we maintain or erase this clause?", Jean-Pierre Jouyet, France's state secretary for European affairs, asked last week in front of the Balladur committee - a high-level committee on institutional reform set up by French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
"This could put France into difficulty as regards countries which have an indisputable and undisputed vocation to join the EU, such as Macedonia or the Balkans", he said, Le Figaro reports.
"France would risk blocking [their] membership process, while all the conditions would be present", he went on to say.
In 2005, under then president Jacques Chirac, a clause was introduced into the French constitution - article 88-5 - making it compulsory to submit all future EU enlargements after Croatia to a referendum.
The article was particularly targeted at Turkey in a bid to reassure French public opinion and increase the chances of a positive vote in the upcoming referendum on the EU constitutional treaty.
Apart from Turkey, it would also affect all Western Balkan countries except for Croatia, as well as any other possible EU candidates.
With Nicolas Sarkozy now in power however, there is speculation that this clause could be changed, as the new president has made no secret of his desire to reform much of what his predecessor had done.
"The idea [put forward by Mr Jouyet] is not to cancel the referendum, but to allow the head of state to choose between the latter and parliamentarian ratification", Le Figaro quotes colleagues of Mr Jouyet as saying.
Although he is a firm opponent of Turkey's EU bid - membership negotiations formally started in late 2005 - Mr Sarkozy is in favour of increasing the role of the parliament in political life.
He has so far refused to comment on Mr Jouyet's suggestions, however, saying he would wait for the final report of the Balladur committee first.
"He [Mr Jouyet] expressed one idea, others will express other ideas", he said at a press conference during his visit in Hungary on Friday (14 September).
At the same time, the French president told Le Monde his position on Turkey remained unchanged.
"I will not shelter behind the referendum to refuse Turkey's entry [in the EU]", he said, adding that a "custom-tailored role for Turkey" should be invented.
Changing the French constitution on further enlargements of the EU would make it possible for Mr Sarkozy to shore up support from other member states for his idea of setting up a "committee of the wise" to reflect on Europe's future, French papers comment.
In addition, it would sooth both Turkey and Washington - which firmly opposes Turkish isolation.
In order for the idea to become reality however, it would need a three-fifths majority in the French "Congress" - a body combining the country's national assembly and the senate -including backing from Mr Sarkozy's political rivals, the socialists.