Turkey will open accession talks with the European Union if a crucial European Commission report next month is acted on

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.