Turkey told the European Union today the slow pace of its accession talks was causing public enthusiasm for membership of the bloc to wane, but the EU insisted it was up to Ankara to push harder on reforms.
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan cited one unnamed EU state in particular as holding up part of the talks started in 2005, an indirect reference to France and President Nicolas Sarkozy's oft-stated opposition to Turkey's membership aspirations.
"The opening of some chapters are blocked," Mr Babacan told a news conference, referring to the 35 reform areas into which negotiations with the EU are divided.
"These chapters have not been opened because of the concerns of one member state ... That has a negative impact on the enthusiasm of the Turkish population for reforms and accession," he said after the meeting in Brussels with EU officials.
Turkey has so far opened just six of the 35 chapters of reform work required for accession and is hoping to start a further two - on company and intellectual property laws - as early as next month.
To the annoyance of Ankara and many EU capitals, France wants to restrict negotiations to those chapters which could be used as the basis of any future "privileged partnership" without implying membership.
But EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said a further seven chapters were ready for opening - in areas ranging from food safety to social policy - if Turkey acts to fulfill the technical benchmarks for doing so.
In a speech to European and Turkish parliamentarians in Brussels, he called on Ankara to implement stalled reforms on state aid, decentralisation, ombudsman law and upgrading the powers of the Court of Auditors.
"The pace of negotiations depends on progress in legal and democratic reforms - and especially in their implementation," Mr Rehn told the sitting.
Diplomats said Mr Babacan only attended the EU talks after France - which insists Ankara should have at most a special partnership with the bloc - withdrew its demand that the word "accession" be omitted from EU texts preparing for the meeting.
French Europe Minister Jean-Pierre Jouyet told reporters on the eve of the talks that Paris had chosen to withdraw its demand, noting its forthcoming six-month spell as EU President required it to be "impartial, equitable, balanced".
"We would like to see the goal of full membership maintained and for Turkey to move towards that goal," Mr Babacan said.
Aside from France's objections, progress has been further held back by a row over EU-member Cyprus, EU concerns over human rights in Turkey and the perception in Europe that Turkey is slow to put into practice reforms agreed at the legal level.
A bid by prosecutors to shut down the ruling AK Party for alleged Islamist activities is seen casting further political uncertainty over the accession process.