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Further talks for Turkey's EU accession not likely: Austrian official

Xinhua, August 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Austrian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sebastian Kurz said Friday he does not believe negotiations for Turkey's European Union (EU) accession will proceed further.

Speaking to the Austria Press Agency in an interview, Kurz said while there are differing views on the matter amongst European leaders as a whole, he sees little enthusiasm for "the opening of a new chapter in negotiations" amongst foreign ministers in the union.

For the advancement of negotiations there would need to be unanimous agreement, he added.

He said he considers Turkey to have distanced itself from the EU in recent years, and the developments in the past few weeks have also been significantly problematic.

He said in his view the best way forward is for the EU to put forth the changes it would like to see in Turkey, and European perspectives on what future European cooperation should look like. Such cooperation will take place regardless, and does not necessarily need to involve EU accession. Endit