The European Union is about to make a momentous decision. Should it open formal accession negotiations with Turkey? The question is a fiendishly difficult one.

Many in France (though not President Jacques Chirac) and Germany are adamantly opposed to Turkish entry, especially on cultural grounds. Britain, with the not-too-subtle backing of the US, has been consistently in favour of Turkish entry. Anglo-American motives are geopolitical and economic, though there is an important subtext - namely, that Turkish entry could put an end to any EU hopes of acquiring a stronger, quasi-federal political identity.