France says some Turkey-EU chapters should wait

PARIS, Aug 29 (Reuters) France wants some parts of Turkey's accession talks with the European Union to go ahead before others, with those that assume Ankara will join the bloc waiting until later, a government spokesman said today.

In a speech on Monday setting out his foreign policy goals, President Nicolas Sarkozy said France would not oppose continued talks with Ankara as long as one possible outcome was the offer of an association with the EU rather than membership.

France has said in the past it has a problem with five of the 35 areas, or ''chapters'', into which negotiations are divided, arguing that they assume an outcome of full membership.

''There are 35 packages, 35 subjects, to be debated -- 30 that are only on the subject of Turkey's association, and five that are to do with membership,'' government spokesman Laurent Wauquiez told a news conference after a cabinet meeting.

''France's request is that we first discuss the 30 packages concerning association.'' Sarkozy was still opposed to Turkey joining the European Union, Wauquiez said, but did not want to ''break'' the 27-nation bloc over the issue.

REUTERS SS PM1815