BRUSSELS, Sept 30 (AFP) - EU enlargement chief Guenter Verheugen on Thursday angrily dismissed as "biased" critics who accuse him of doing his utmost to ensure the European Union opens negotiations with Turkey on its aspirations to join the bloc.
Verheugen addressed the issue during a confirmation hearing at the European Parliament as commissioner in charge of enterprise and industry. The new EU commission headed by Jose Manuel Durao Barroso is to take office in November.
"What I abhore in this debate is the bias shown by a lot of those who are taking part," Verheugen, a staunch defender of Turkey's bid to join the union, told lawmakers.
"As far as Turkey is concerned, I will say it very clearly that the one who has heard me utter a recommendation is not born yet ... I simply said that I had in front of me all the elements necessary to make a recommendation," he added. "I think that by the middle of next week you could have a completely different view of things."
Verheugen is scheduled to release a vital report on October 6, assessing Turkey's readiness to engage in full membership talks with the EU.
An EU summit on December 17 will base itself on the report's recommendations to decide on if and when to launch the accession negotiations.
Verheugen on September 23 had expressed satisfaction at Turkey's reform progress, saying there were "no more obstacles" on the table after the country's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to enact a penal code reform deemed essential to Ankara's European aspirations.
The enlargement chief had come under harsh criticism at the time for saying that there is no systematic torture in the vast Muslim country. His spokesman later clarified the remarks.
Verheugen on Thursday also made light of comments by European Internal Markets Commissioner Frits Bolkestein who had called him "the Berlin poodle".
"A poodle is a very smart animal and some would even say that it is a very beautiful one ...," he quipped.
Bolkestein, of the Netherlands, is, along with agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler of Austria, the only European commissioner to have spoken publicly against Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
Verheugen has said he did not believe Turkey would be ripe for full membership until at least 2015, even if it gets an immediate date to launch membership talks.