European Union foreign ministers hold emergency talks in Luxembourg Sunday in efforts to break a deadlock on Turkey, which is scheduled to begin membership negotiations with the bloc one day later.
The ministers called the meeting after Austria insisted that EU talks with Turkey should include an alternative to giving the country full membership. Austria says most Austrians object to full EU membership for Turkey and suggested offering Turkey privileged partnership instead.
But Turkey calls that unacceptable and says it will not take part in Monday's talks unless it is clear that the goal is full membership.
EU diplomats are working on proposals to soften Austrian opposition. One would be a commitment to begin membership talks with Austria's neighbor Croatia in the near future. EU ministers had delayed the talks because of Croatian failure to cooperate fully with The Hague war crimes tribunal.
