Schroeder eyes EU talks with Turkey next year

BRUSSELS, Dec 16 (AFP) - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder voiced confidence Thursday that EU leaders would agree at a Brussels summit to launch membership talks with Turkey next year.
"We are talking about negotiations on membership and I assume that we are going to decide that negotiations will begin in 2005," he said as he arrived for a two-day summit in Brussels.
He added that the negotiations, expected to last at least a decade, will be long and tough. "Negotiations are never easy," he said.
Germany is one of the firmest supporters of Turkey's bid to start membership talks with the EU, which most diplomats expect to start in the second half of next year.

12/16/2004 18:21 GMT - AFP