by cannedmoose » Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:21 pm
An interesting (and original) development...
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EU Presidency cancels meeting with candidate countries
CNA - BRUSSELS-Belgium - 16/6/2005 13:26
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1330:CYPPRESS:09
EU Presidency cancels meeting with candidate countries
by Maria Myles
Brussels, Jun 16 (CNA) -- The Luxembourg European Union presidency has cancelled a meeting with the four candidate countries for accession, normally held after the conclusion of European Council meetings to brief the leaders of candidate countries about Union decisions taken at Council level.
The meeting was cancelled because it was not possible to predict when the 25 EU leaders would conclude their deliberations, given the thorny issues they are facing, namely the ratification process of the European Constitution and the EU budget for 2007-2013, on which there are sharp differences of opinions.
The EU - candidate countries meeting is set to take place at a later date, between the ambassadors of the four acceding states (Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia) here in Brussels.
No specific time has been fixed though for such an encounter.
Consequently Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, who was to have represented Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, at the meeting, will not be coming to Brussels.