EU fine-tunes crunch report on Turkey's membership bid

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Commission on Monday fine-tuned a crunch report on Turkey`s bid to join the EU which is expected to give a green light but warn that the predominantly Muslim country might have to wait more than a decade to fulfil its long-held dream.
Top officials from the EU executive met to finalize the core recommendations of the document to be unveiled on Wednesday on whether the European Union should agree to start membership negotiations with Turkey.
After the meeting, an EU source said the report will state that Turkey fulfils the political criteria to start talks but will warn that these could be suspended "if the Commission believes that the conduct of reforms in Turkey is compromised."
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder meanwhile said that the EU will probably decide unanimously in December to open negotiations with Turkey.
If the Commission report says that Turkey meets European criteria, the heads of state and government of the 25 EU members will have to decide at a mid-December summit whether to open negotiations with the country.
If they give the go-ahead the negotiations are set to begin "without delay."
Turkey has been waiting to join the European club since 1963 but its efforts have hitherto stumbled over its civil rights record. Opponents of Turkish membership have long argued that Turkey is simply too big and too different to fit into the EU.
But Turkey now appears to be set for good news, according to widely leaked elements of the Commission report and statements from various commissioners.
These praise Ankara`s reforms but warn that it will probably be well into the next decade before the country of 71 million inhabitants can expect to become a member of the mainly Christian EU.
Turkey itself is under no illusions about how soon it can join, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying Sunday that membership talks could last until 2019.
The French daily Le Figaro reported Monday that according to a leaked copy of the report it had seen, the Commission is set to underline that starting talks does not necessarily mean they will eventually conclude successfully.
It said the report called for Turkey`s application to be subject to much stricter controls than that of the 10 mostly ex-communist countries that joined the EU earlier this year.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul later Monday rejected any suggestion of "special conditions" for Turkey.
"That is out of the question," he said.
A spokesman for EU enlargement commissioner Guenter Verheugen, whose office is preparing the report, refused Monday to comment on the plethora of leaks, saying only that "we will see on Wednesday."
But Olli Rehn, who takes over from Verheugen next month, said Monday that the European Commission will indeed recommend that the EU should start entry talks with Turkey while stressing the need for mechanisms to monitor reforms.
Verheugen himself said last month that "no obstacles remain on the table" after resolving a week-long conflict last month about Turkish plans -- later abandoned -- to criminalize adultery.
The next head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, meanwhile said he welcomed the idea of referenda in EU member countries on the issue of Turkey`s possible future accession.
"It is a mistake to assume that a decision of this importance can be taken against the will of Europeans," said Barroso.