58 percent of French oppose Turkish EU entry: poll
How's that integration effort working out for you, Turkey? | PARIS - Nearly six out of 10 French people oppose Turkey joining the European Union, according to an opinion poll published on Friday. The LH2 survey for RMC radio recorded 58 percent of the public against Turkish membership and 28 percent in favour.
The poll was taken in the wake of the row over the adoption last week by the French lower house of parliament of a bill that would make denial of the Armenian genocide a punishable offence. Fridays poll findings were in line with a Europe-wide survey taken in June, which put French hostility to Turkish entry at 55 percent.
However the Eurobarometer survey also indicated that opposition in France is only slightly more than in the EU as a whole -- where 48 percent are against Turkish entry -- and well behind several individual countries. Nine states were more hostile than France to Ankaras membership bid, including Austria at 81 percent and Germany -- which has a large Turkish population -- at 69 percent.
Posted by: Steve White 2006-10-20 |