(PARIS) - France voted on Thursday to make holding a referendum obligatory for accepting new EU member countries with populations over five percent the group's entire size -- a move that particularly affects Turkey.

As part of an institutional reform project to be submitted to a vote in July, the French national assembly voted by 48 to 21 for the referendum measure.

Objections from France, which will take over EU presidency from Slovenia on July 1 for six months, have previously contributed to slowing down the talks for Turkey's entry into the EU.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is a vocal opponent of Turkey's membership bid, arguing that the mainly Muslim country does not belong to Europe. Instead, he proposes a "privileged partnership", an idea Turkey rejects.

French public opinion is also largely against Turkey's bid.

Sarkozy has on numerous occasions committed himself to organising a referendum on the issue if Turkey's accession were it imminent during his presidency.

However, these promises have not succeeded in calming the 40 or so deputies from Sarkozy's own UMP party who are against Turkey joining the EU and have threatened to vote against the entire institutional reform if a referendum is not entrenched in the constitution.

Currently a parliamentary vote is sufficient to approve the membership of new countries into the EU.

The final adoption of the constitutional reform project, of which this legislation now forms a part, is still very uncertain.

Turkey began membership talks in 2005, but has so far opened only six of the 35 negotiating chapters. Eight of the chapters are formally frozen over Ankara's refusal to open its ports and airports to EU member Cyprus.

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