Britain says Mediterranean Union no 'alternative' to EU enlargement

(ANKARA) - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday that French plans to create a Mediterranean Union could not replace the enlargement of the European Union.

"The Mediterranean Union can and should be a beneficial project for the European Union but it is not, repeat not, an alternative to enlargement of the EU to include Turkey," Miliband told a joint press conference here with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan.

The EU should pursue Turkey's accession process "with full speed," he said.

The Mediterranean project, approved by EU leaders in March, aims to improve trade, transport and energy links between southern European countries and nations around the Mediterranean including Morocco, Syria, Israel and Turkey.

Critics see it as a way for French President Nicolas Sarkozy to keep Turkey out of the EU.

The French leader is a staunch opponent of Turkey's accession to the 27-member bloc and advocates a "special partnership" rather than full membership -- a proposal Ankara categorically rejects.

Sarkozy hopes to push his plans for a Mediterranean Union forward when France assumes the rotating EU presidency on July 1.

Miliband, who is accompanying Queen Elizabeth II on a four-day state visit to Turkey, gave assurances that his government will continue to support Turkey's drive for EU membership.

"We want to be allies of Turkey inside the European Union, not just proponents of a better dialogue between the EU and Turkey... We commit ourselves to ensure that the accession negotiation process proceeds with full momentum," he said.

Ankara began membership negotiations in October 2005, but has opened talks in only six of the 35 policy chapters a candidate country must complete.

The EU has frozen negotiations in eight chapters over Turkey's refusal to grant trade privileges to Cyprus, an EU member Ankara does not recognize.

Miliband said he and Babacan agreed to launch a "special bilateral dialogue" to defeat international terrorism, such as threats by Al-Qaeda, which has targeted both countries.

Turkey, a secular Muslim-majority democracy, and Britain, with a population of two million Muslims, "are living examples that different cultures and different religions can live together," Miliband said.

"I hope our counter-terrorism relationship will both have practical measures to make our countries safer but also some of the deeper ideological and theological roots of terrorism that need to be tackled," he said.