The Latest: Turkish minister: leave us out of Brexit debate

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the British referendum on EU membership (all times local):

2:40 p.m.

Turkey’s foreign minister says his country’s accession process to the European Union should not be a part of the campaigning leading up to the British referendum on whether to remain in the bloc.

Speaking at a news conference in Ankara on Wednesday, Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was “wrong to suggest Turkey will arrive and become a burden on Europe.”

The EU opened membership negotiations with Muslim-majority Turkey in 2005. Turkey’s accession talks have been a topic of debate in Britain ahead of the vote.

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2:25 p.m.

Britain’s Electoral Commission has said “NON” to a group that wanted to hand out croissants to London commuters as an act of friendship ahead of the vote on whether to remain in the European Union.

The commission says that the efforts of the group, #operationcroissant, violate guidelines banning the use of food to influence votes.

Commuters at London’s King’s Cross and St. Pancras stations were instead given postcards from Parisians asking them to stay. The 600 croissants from Paris were donated to homeless shelters.

Rosa Rankin-Gee, a writer based in Paris, says #operationcroissant was an effort to do something “stripped of the angry, politicized and divisive campaigning.”

She says they “are happy to fall on our baguettes and stick to the right side of British law.”

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2:15 p.m.

French President Francois Hollande says the European Union’s future is at stake in the British referendum Thursday.

The United Kingdom leaving the EU would have “very serious consequences,” Hollande said following a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Paris.

Hollande says he hopes the British will choose to remain in the EU.

Hollande says: “There’s a very serious risk for the United Kingdom not to be able to access the common market and … the European economic area anymore.”

France would “draw all the conclusions” of such a vote, he warned. “This would be irreversible.”

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12:10 p.m.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg fears a British vote to leave the EU would make Europe “weaker, more fragmented and nationalistic.”

In comments to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, the leader of the oil-rich Scandinavian country that has twice voted in referendums to stay out of the EU said a weaker Europe would mean the economic situation will be more difficult when reforms and competitiveness are needed.

“But it will also mean a more political and fragmented Europe, a weaker Europe and a weaker world,” she said in the interview on Wednesday.

She said that in a world where “we are increasingly dependent on each other and solve issues together, it’s dangerous to demolish joint institutions,” adding that she is “deeply worried” should Britain opt out of the EU.

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10:50 a.m.

A German economic think-tank says more than a third of industrial companies it surveyed in the country, Europe’s biggest economy, fear that a British exit from the European Union would have negative effects on their business.

The Ifo institute, which also produces a closely watched monthly business confidence index, said Wednesday that it surveyed 1,478 companies between June 6 and 21 to gauge their expectations of a possible British exit.

It said 38 percent of the firms questioned fear negative effects, and that those worries were particularly pronounced among companies with more than 500 employees. Another 61 percent expected no effect on their business, while just 1 percent expected positive effects.

Britain was the No. 3 destination for German exports last year and was Germany’s fifth-biggest trading partner overall.

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8:50 a.m.

Prime Minister David Cameron is taking on a frantic day of campaigning on the eve of vote on whether or not Britain will leave the European Union.

Cameron defended Britain’s participation in the 28-nation bloc in a BBC interview Wednesday, arguing that the country benefits from membership and rejected the notion that the institution is moribund.

Cameron says: “We are not shackled to a corpse.”

Meanwhile, the most notable figure in the “leave” campaign, former London Mayor Boris Johnson, has kicked off a whirlwind tour of England as he pushes for a British exit — or Brexit.

Johnson toured Billingsgate Fish Market and urged voters to “believe in our country.”

He says “this is a crucial time.”

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8:35 a.m.

Leaders of about half of Britain’s largest companies have made a last ditch appeal to their employees to vote for remaining in the European Union.

In a letter to the Times on the eve of Thursday’s vote, some 1,285 business leaders — include representatives of half of the FTSE 100 businesses — argue that a vote to leave will hurt the British economy.

Similar letters have been released in the course of the acrimonious campaign. But Wednesday’s letter is clearly meant to make the 1.75 million people employed by the signatories to think twice about their vote.

The letter says: “Britain leaving the EU would mean uncertainty for our firms, less trade with Europe and fewer jobs.”

The companies represented include Barclays, Standard Life and Anglo American.