IT WAS to have been a grand celebration with flagwaving, backslapping, champagne and, for Turkey’s strictly Muslim Foreign Minister, orange juice. The British Government was hoping that the beginning of Turkey’s accession talks with the European Union would be the crowning achievement of its troubled EU presidency.

But, even for seasoned diplomats hardened to European brinkmanship, the past 48 hours turned into a unique test of nerves.

Inside the grim, grey conference centre on the Kirchberg Plateau above the city of Luxembourg, the future of Europe’s relations with its giant eastern neighbour, and of the West’s relations with Islam, were haggled over by increasingly fraught European foreign ministers aware that the stakes were as high as the disagreements were passionate.

For all the side disputes, the conflict boiled down to a slugging match between Britain, the champion of Turkey and chairman of the talks, and Austria, chief Turkosceptic.

Britain was represented by Jack Straw, the grey-haired Foreign Secretary, Austria by Ursula Plassnik — tall, blonde and bedecked in Karl Lagerfeld gold earrings. Other EU ministers watch, officially backing Mr Straw, but many secretly sympathetic to the Austrian.

As they argued, Abdullah Gul, the Turkish Foreign Minister, lingered in Ankara, his aircraft waiting to whisk him to Luxembourg when agreement was reached.

For Mr Straw, the issue was simple: the EU had agreed in December to start entry talks with Turkey yesterday, and it was essential to prevent a clash of civilisations that the EU kept its word and embraced its large Muslim neighbour. For Frau Plassnik, the issue was equally clear: Turkey was not ready to join the EU and most EU citizens do not want it to join, so it should be offered an “alternative partnership” of a sort Turkey has repeatedly rejected.

Austria was officially outnumbered 24 to one, but it had a veto and the overwhelming support of its citizens: 80 per cent of Austrians, and all main political parties oppose Turkish membership.

But Mr Straw and Frau Plassnik failed to make any progress at an initial bilateral meeting on Sunday afternoon. Diplomats hoped Frau Plassnik would be more flexible after polls closed in Austria’s regional elections, but she refused to back down. At the EU ministers’ dinner that night, other EU ministers piled the pressure on Frau Plassnik, but she stood her ground.

Mr Straw and Frau Plassnik held bilateral meetings into the small hours of yesterday morning. “The body language was really aggressive,” one observer said.

Mr Straw, a centre-left Eurosceptic, and Frau Plassnik, a centre-right Europhile, do not get on well on a personal level, and had a blazing row at a recent UN summit. “She tends to be sarcastic, and that really winds him up,” said one source.

After only a few hours sleep, the talks were reconvened in the morning. The mood was so bad that Javier Solana, the EU foreign affairs representative, was brought in to mediate. Texts were drafted and redrafted, but Austria and Britain remained deadlocked and gloom deepened into despondency. Last night’s scheduled celebrations were postponed.

In the end it was the unlikely and diminutive figure of Carla del Ponte, the UN chief war crimes prosecutor, who broke the impasse.

It was widely believed that Austria would back down on Turkey if the EU agreed to open membership negotiations with Croatia, once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The EU had postponed those negotiations in March because Croatia was deemed to be protecting war criminals.

Mr Straw was desperate to keep the issues separate. Ms del Ponte, due in Luxembourg to present her latest findings on Croatia, was told to delay her flight to ensure that she would not turn up during the talks about Turkey.

But late in the afternoon the gloom began to lift. It suddenly became clear why. Almost simultaneously, Austria dropped its insistence on an “alternative partnership” for Turkey and Ms del Ponte arrived brandishing a report that said Croatia was now co-operating on war criminals. In a stroke, she had cleared the way for the EU to start talks with Zagreb.

British diplomats insisted that the two developments were unconnected, but others were more sceptical.

WHAT THEY SAID

“An historic point has been reached today and this is the start of our membership talks. Turkey has embarked on a new era”
Abdullah Gul, the Turkish Foreign Minister

“We fear the text may lead Turkey to a horizon other than full EU membership”
Onur Oymen, senior opposition politician

“Countries that cannot accept Turkey in the EU are those who oppose an alliance of civilizations”
Recep Erdogan, Turkish Prime Minister, before agreement was reached

“A Turkey firmly anchored in Europe will be an even more reliable partner for the transatlantic family”
Sean McCormack, US State Department

DEBATE
Should Turkey join the EU?
www.timesonline.co.uk/debate

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