Turkish EU Bid

[darkes]

I have to agree to a large extent with Tiger Shark.
Yes, France is very unpopular with a lot of people over here because of its attitude, which is one of the main reasons there is strong anti EU feeling in the UK.

One good thing to come out of the expansion of the EU, is that as I said before France & Germany no longer have a majority, and have already been out voted by the UK together with new member states who do not agree with France, like Poland for example.

France likes to rant (especially Chirac) about these sort of things, because France has now realised that most countries in the expanded EU do not want a bureaucratic, socialist EU run by France, which is what we have had up to now.

And wtf shouldn't Bush express his views on Turkey, a position which is supported by many members of the EU ??
In response to Negative, I presume France is now not allowed to make any anti American comments (which it does all the time) ??
It's what we call free speach ...

The amusing thing about Chirac is that he accuses the UK of being 'anti-European', because it doesn't agree with the French position on many things, and now throws a temper tantrum when he realises he hasn't won the argument, and would have lost the vote at the EU summit.

[Negative]

You should see the amount of bull France, Belgium, and the others get over them if they even mention something American
It's working both ways: if Bush says something about the EU, he should expect to be criticized for it, just like the US are very good at criticizing the countries that dare to "tell" them something.

Chirac told him that "he went into a domain which is not his own", and isn't that completely true?
Sure, Bush is entitled to his opinion, as Chirac is entitled to point out that Turkey isn't exactly part of the America's. Now it all gets blown up like "France doesn't want a muslim country in the EU", while that's not even what it's about...

[Cybr1d]

Just put Bush and Chirac in "Celebrity Deathmatch" and let em fight it out ....Is that show still running?

[Negative]

They call Chirac "The Bulldozer"... but then again: he's 72...

[darkes]

I like the idea of a "Celebrity Deathmatch"

The EU does have an interest in Turkey, just like the US does - politically it could be described as unaligned, so all countries are entitled to comment.

However Chirac is completely out of tune with most of the rest of the EU - the thing I find extremely offensive about the French is that they feel able to make these statements, on the assumption that they represent the majority EU opinion, which they do not!

Bush said some things that maybe he shouldn't have done, as France has other reasons for blocking Turkeys entry.

[Tedob1]

the EU is free to do what's right for the EU. Bush or anyone else is free to give their opinion, just as we are giving ours here. Its not as if he's applying pressure to anyone on turkeys behalf, just givng them a 'good word'. nobody has to listen. telling bush STFU is nothing less than an intended insult

[Zonewalker]

telling bush STFU is nothing less than an intended insult

true and with a bit of luck Bush will take it as such and launch a tactical strike against France

Apologies to all French people here.... I'm English - I can't help having a go at you

Z

Ps....ROFLMAO at Tigers earlier rant

[nihil]

Well,

If Turkey want to get into the EU, they will have to get the hell out of occupied Cyprus and return my house to me.................in pristine condition?

And, if we want to fly Tornadoes and F-16s out of their country.............they had bloody well better let us do it.................or be held accountable? After all, they ARE (supposedly) NATO members? whereas France are not..............

The best bit for me is when the French "quislings" would not hand over their fleet in WWII............no..........let the Nazis have it?...........the Royal Navy went into Oran and sank the bloody lot with the loss of several thousand innocent French lives (by "innocent" I refer to those who were not of commander status, and could have chosen to join the Free French)

And the owners of my local licquor store are Kurdish....................

[RoadClosed]

Kurds make great Kebabs. Since the state of this thread I have read tons of material on Chirac, France, their position in NATO or lack of, their position in the EU, their position in the UN, their ties to Saddam, Iraq, the middle east etc. I have a new opinion of France.

[Tiger Shark]

I have a new opinion of France.

Bet your research didn't elevate that opinion......