MEISE, Belgium, Dec 16 (AFP) - EU leaders are heading toward a decision on starting membership talks with Turkey but there remain "some difficult matters" to thrash out, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said Thursday.
Balkenende, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, told reporters ahead of an EU summit in Brussels that discussions would continue over dinner later Thursday.
"We are going in the right direction, but there are still some difficult matters and we're going to discuss them over dinner," he told Dutch reporters, in remarks translated into English.
Balkenende said Wednesday that the bloc was likely to approve the opening of membership talks with Turkey during the two-day summit in Brussels concluding Friday.
In the last few days he has made whirlwind visits to a number of European capitals, including Berlin, Paris and Vienna, to pave the way for the crucial decision.
Although the leaders are expected to give approval, hedged with a string of conditions, a sizeable section of Europe's political class and populations are wary about inviting the vast, mainly-Muslim country into the fold.
Turkey has been trying to become a member of the European club for more than 40 years.
12/16/2004 15:34 GMT - AFP