Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- European Union foreign ministers inched toward an agreement to open EU entry talks with Turkey, seeking to end a diplomatic standoff on the day of the scheduled start of negotiations.
Britain, chairing an EU emergency meeting in Luxembourg, proposed a new negotiating strategy to the Turkish government in response to last-minute objections by Austria and Cyprus, a British government spokesman said.
``We are at a difficult stage in these negotiations and I cannot say what the outcome will be,'' U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters earlier. The start of talks with Turkey today is ``by no means certain.''
Failure to salvage the talks would leave Turkey adrift as it seeks foreign investment to boost its $300 billion economy and raise its standard of living to western levels.
Britain is awaiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's response to a draft of a new version of the negotiating plan, U.K. spokesman Jonathan Allen told reporters.
Turkish stocks and the lira recouped early losses on optimism that the EU would overcome its divisions. The benchmark stock index rose 2.9 percent after declining as much as 2.8 percent. The lira gained 0.4 percent to 1.342 per dollar, after falling as much as 2 percent.
The bold parts are for those that say that Turkey doesn't need EU. Just the accession process means a lot to Turkey. If the accession process is canceled or terminated later on Turkey will face an economic disaster.
