BRUSSELS, Dec 16 (AFP) - EU leaders on Thursday opened a crunch summit focused on Turkey's hopes of joining the bloc, and which is widely expected to give Ankara a green light to start membership talks.
The summit was set to agree a date to start talks probably in the second half of 2005. European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said it was "time for Europe to say 'yes' to Turkey."
But the country's detractors, led by Austria, have maintained their doubts over the 25-nation bloc's ability to absorb a huge, impoverished country with one foot in Asia.
12/16/2004 18:28 GMT - AFP