The leaders of Germany and France hammered home their support today for the partial suspension of negotiations on Turkey’s accession to the European Union over its refusal open up to trade with Cyprus.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, additionally urged the EU to impose a further hurdle on Turkey - a review of its membership negotiations after about 18 months. That proposal was quickly backed by Cyprus.

Speaking after talks with President Chirac and the Polish President Lech Kaczynski, Mrs Merkel called the proposal from the European Commission to suspend eight of 35 areas in Turkey’s membership talks a "good basis" for discussions.

That proposal, viewed sceptically by some EU governments, is to be discussed by EU foreign ministers next week and then by national leaders at a summit on December 14-15.

Mrs Merkel went on to call for the commission to report back to EU leaders between Turkish elections next autumn and European elections in early 2009 for a review of the state of Ankara’s membership bid.

"We don’t want to set any kind of ultimatums, but we want ... the commission to say to us what has been achieved and how we could proceed," Mrs Merkel said.

The three leaders were meeting at a Benedictine abbey at Mettlach, in western Germany, as the "Weimar Triangle", set up 15 years ago to ease Polish accession to the EU. The summit had been scheduled for July but Mr Kaczynski withdrew, citing illness.

His office denied that a satire in a left-wing German newspaper, which described him as a "potato" and took him to task for his long-standing scepticism toward Germany, had prompted the cancellation.

Mr Kaczynski - whose twin brother, Jaroslaw, is Poland’s Prime Minister _ called the article "disgraceful and villainous."

The newspaper, Die Tageszeitung, marked the impending summit yesterday by printing photographs of Mr Kaczynski and a potato on its front page and asking: "Remind us, which one of you is coming again?"

The three leaders also called for "an equal partnership" between Russia and the EU, and for the resolution of a damaging trade row between Moscow and Warsaw.

"We recognise the importance of Russia as a strategic partner," they said in a joint statement. "We will further support the development of a long-term partnership with Russia based on common interest and equal rights, in particular in the trade and energy sector."

Mr Kaczynski, meanwhile, called on Russia to lift an embargo on meat and plant products which last month prompted his government to block the start of talks between the European Union and Russia on a new partnership deal. "I hope to see this embargo lifted as soon a possible," he said.

But the ultra-conservative Polish leader insisted that there must be recognition in the bloc’s relations with Russia that "states have equal rights and obligations".

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