Obama challenges Sarkozy’s EU vision

Agence France-Presse

The U.S. president, who was praised this week for a speech seeking a new beginning in Western relations with the Islamic world, was asked about France’s opposition to Turkish EU membership and the country’s ban on Muslim veils in schools.

"I’ve said publicly that I think Turkish membership in the EU would be important," Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with Sarkozy before the two leaders attended commemoration ceremonies for the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings during World War II.


Obama said, now, President Sarkozy, as a member of the EU, has a different view. "What the U.S. wants to do is just to encourage talks and discussions where Turkey can feel confident that it has a friendship with France, with the United States, with all of Europe, and to the extent that it defines itself, so that it has an opportunity to be a part of that."

"In all of this, I think that Europe and France have a role to play, just as the United States does, to send a signal to Muslims around the world that we welcome and want their participation in a world community that is peaceful, that is prosperous, that is developing in favor of all people," Obama added.

Insist on friendship

Sarkozy insisted that he and Obama agreed on the general principle of friendship with Turkey, but said that France would continue to oppose Turkish membership in the European Union.

"We want Turkey to be a bridge between the East and West," Sarkozy said. "I told President Obama that it is very important for Europe to have borders. For me, Europe is a force of stability in the world and I cannot allow that force for stabilization to be destroyed."

Turkey began EU membership talks in 2005, and has started negotiations in 10 of the 35 policy areas that candidate countries must bring in line with EU rules. France and Germany lead European opposition to its membership. If negotiations succeed, Turkey, with 76 million people, would be the first major Muslim country in the Union. Albania, with 3.6 million people and a Muslim majority, is also a candidate.

The two leaders also differed on Obama’s call for powers like France to lift bans on Muslim women wearing religious headscarves in state schools and certain government jobs.

Headscarf

"I won’t take responsibility for how other countries are going to approach this. I will tell you that in the United States, our basic attitude is that we are not going to tell people what to wear," Obama said. "My general view is that the most effective way to integrate people of all faiths is to not try to suppress their traditions, but rather to open up opportunities."

Sarkozy said, Civil servants must not wear any outward sign of their religion, whether they are Catholic, Jewish, Orthodox, Protestant or Muslims. "The second thing is that a young woman can wear a headscarf, provided that it is a decision she took freely and not one that has been forced on her by her family or their environment. France is a country where everybody can enjoy their convictions."