Balkenende: Decision On Turkey Must Be Honest

STRASBOURG - The decision concerning Turkey (whether or not to start accession to the EU negotiations with Ankara) should be ''honest'', Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said on Wednesday.
Taking the floor in the European Parliament to outline the Dutch EU presidency's program, Balkenende said that EU leaders would assess in December whether Turkey met the Copenhagen criteria.
''The decision must be honest under the rules to which we committed ourselves firmly in 2002,'' he said before stressing that it should be taken ''without inventing any new criteria''.
Balkenende added that EU presidency would deploy enormous efforts for a decision backed by everyone but the EU Commission's progress report would, of course, have significant effect on the decision.
(MS-ULG) 21.07.2004