Turkey will open accession talks with the European Union if a crucial European Commission report next month is acted on
Published:
10 September 2004 y., Friday
A start date remains uncertain, but insitutional officials say Brussels is set to recommend that Ankara has made sufficient progress with democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
On a visit to Turkey this week, Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen promised an objective report that would set no new conditions.
EU leaders will make a decision in December on this basis.
Yet predictions are that it will take at least 10 years before the mainly Muslim nation joins the bloc, even if negotiations go well.
By the time they are over, its population could equal that of the EU's most populous member state, Germany.
The latest alarm for critics of the Turkish government is its proposal to outlaw adultery - in stark contrast to reforms so far to conform with European norms.
The move has amplified fears of Islamic legal influences in the secular EU candidate state.
Šaltinis:
euronews.net
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in as the third president of post-Soviet Ukraine Sunday, capping months of political turmoil that saw the nation turn away from traditional Russian influence toward the West
more »
Belarussian diplomat expelled from Czech Republic
more »
Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to renounce a notorious 1939 pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that divided up much of eastern Europe between the two powers, Estonia's president said Thursday
more »
President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga has decided to attend a May 9 summit and celebration in Moscow marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II
more »
Ukraine's Supreme Court rejected a final appeal by the losing candidate in the country's disputed presidential poll, confirming Viktor Yushchenko as the winner
more »
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili dismissed the 12 January Abkhaz presidential ballot as illegal given that many Georgians and other former residents of Abkhazia now living in exile were unable to participate
more »
President Stipe Mesic, who is credited for moving this ex-Yugoslav country closer to the West, overwhelmingly won a second term Sunday
more »
Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu on 17 January will go to Budapest on the first official visit abroad undertaken by the Romanian head of government after taking office
more »
Voting in the Iraqi elections on January 30 is taking place not only there, but also in 14 other countries, including the US
more »
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he and his Polish counterpart, Marek Belka, agreed Friday to continue supporting Iraq's reconstruction and promoting U.N. reform
more »