EU says just three weeks for Cyprus-Turkey deal15/11/2006 Turkey has three weeks at most to accept a diplomatic deal on trade with Cyprus or face consequences for its European Union membership negotiations, EU president Finland said. Speaking after EU foreign ministers discussed a critical European Commission report on Turkey's progress since it began entry talks last year, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja gave a downbeat assessment of efforts to avert a setback with the strategically important Muslim candidate nation. "It is also quite possible we shall not reach an agreement," he said. "The consequences of failure would not be in anyone's interest." French European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna said Tuomioja had put prospects of a deal at less than 50 percent. No EU member wanted a complete break in negotiations and the issue was the scope of a partial suspension, she said. Tuomioja said EU leaders were determined not to let a crisis with Turkey dominate their summit on Dec. 14-15 so the issue would have to be settled one way or another well before then. There were "not more than three weeks" left for talks to find a solution enabling Turkey to meet its EU treaty obligation to open its ports to shipping from Cyprus, he said. Ankara has refused to comply unless the EU keeps a pledge to end the economic isolation of Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus. Barring a deal, Colonna said the Commission, the EU's executive arm, would recommend action at the latest on Dec. 6. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said no date had been set but it would be "well ahead of the December European Council". Austria called for an informal "time-out" in Turkey's membership talks if Ankara did not yield on Cyprus, and Spain said it might be better to "stop the clock" in that case until after Turkish elections next year. "If there is no important move from here until December, it might be wise to agree on a time-out to reduce tensions," said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country is among those most sceptical of Ankara's entry aspirations. Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs Alberto Navarro said: "We should either try to stop the watch and resume negotiations after the Turkish elections or to continue the negotiations but at a more technical level. Spain would be against a full suspension." A group of former Turkish foreign ministers suggested last week that Ankara itself should call a pause in the negotiations until after Turkish parliamentary elections due next November. But chief Turkish negotiator Ali Babacan told a Brussels panel discussion: "We know that any pause in this process could have quite negative consequences not only for Turkey and the European Union but for the whole region." Rehn said there was still a chance to clinch a deal that would end the isolation of Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus and enable Turkey to fulfill its EU obligation to open its ports to traffic from the Greek Cypriot part of the divided island. "I refuse to believe that there is no such thing as a win-win situation in the eastern Mediterranean," he said.