BRUSSELS, Dec 16 (AFP) - An EU summit deal on starting accession talks with Turkey next year is "achievable" but not guaranteed, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday.
Blair huddled for 20 minutes with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan just before leaders of all 25 EU member states sat down to dinner to chew over Turkey`s long-standing bid to join their bloc.
Britain strongly backs Turkey`s EU aspirations, seeing its bid as a way to sow democracy and prosperity in the eastern Mediterranean. But as dinner began, Blair`s spokesman opted for cautious optimism.
"We are travelling in hope, but not in certainty," he told reporters. "We believe a deal for the start of negotiations next year is achievable, but we don`t know whether it will be achieved at this stage."
He refused to discuss details of the haggling taking place in Brussels, such as when accession talks might begin -- possibly during Britain`s turn at the rotating presidency in the second half of 2005.
"The negotiations should start next year," he said. "The detail of when is precisely that -- detail. Let`s keep our eyes focused on the big picture. The big picture is that negotiations should start next year."
Blair`s spokesman forecast some tough language before the summit ends Friday, as EU member states such as Austria, France and Germany with reservations about Turkish EU membership stake their positions.
"We are in the last bit, hopefully, of one of the more significant negotiations involving Turkey in recent years," he said.
"It is not surprising, therefore, if there are rather strong words being spoken, if people indeed are trying to get something that is as near their position as possible."
On Blair`s conversation with Erdogan, the spokesman described the mood as positive, saying: "The prime minister gets along very well with prime minister Erdogan, and that was the case today."
"The key wll be the discussions over dinner," he said.
"There will then obviously be, as always, a negotiation over the final text. I don`t anticipate therefore that we`re really going to be in a position to know where we are on the Turkey issue until tomorrow (Friday) morning."
12/16/2004 20:03 GMT - AFP