Turkey last night faced the near-certainty that its talks to join the European Union would be at least partially suspended, after the collapse of a diplomatic effort to forge a deal between Ankara and Cyprus.
The European Commission will now come under pressure to recommend next week that part of the negotiations be put on hold - a move it had been desperate to avoid for fear of jeopardising the process.
It will then be up to EU governments to decide what proportion of the talks should be suspended, amid fears that too great a punishment could cause Turkey to walk away.
Olli Rehn, EU enlargement commissioner, said yesterday the talks would not be stopped, but would be slowed down.
Britain and several of the EU's Nordic members favour suspending only a relatively small part of the talks - three out of 34 remaining negotiating "chapters". France would like more chapters to be suspended, but believes it is important that the negotiations not be stalled completely. Cyprus and Austria want a more emphatic response.
EU foreign ministers will seek to agree a common EU stance on December 11.
At the root of the dispute is Cyprus, which Ankara does not recognise diplomatically and whose vessels Turkey does not allow to use its ports.
Ankara says it will not change its stance whilethe ethnically Turkish north of the island remains isolated.
Yet Cyprus is an EU member and the EU last year demanded that Turkey permit Cypriot ships to use its ports during the course of 2006.
Yesterday, Finland, the current holder of theEU presidency, announced that the lack of response from the parties had ledit to abandon its attemptto broker a limited deal between Turkey and Cyprus.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
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