France’s campaign to keep Turkey out of the European Union gained ground on Monday when it persuaded its EU partners to drop the word “accession” in connection with Turkey‘s talks with the 27-nation bloc.

In a statement on its enlargement strategy, EU foreign ministers of the 27-nation bloc said they looked forward to “intergovernmental conferences” rather than “accession conferences” later this month with Croatia and Turkey – a change of wording that France requested.