The outgoing president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, said that there would be no special conditions for Turkey for starting membership talks. He also assured that the procedure for membership talks with Turkey would not be different than the talks those were held with other countries. However he noted there had effectively been a built-in emergency brake in all past EU accession rounds to guard against human rights violations, and the case would be the same for Turkey. It has been widely speculated that the EC in Progress Report on Turkey, would recommend the start of talks but it would also note that talks with Turkey should be suspended in case there are backward steps in some reform areas such as human rights. Meanwhile German PM Gerhard Schroeder said that he was against the referendum proposals for Turkey's EU membership, which has been brought to the agenda by France. The proposal has been supported by Jose Manuel Barroso, who will replace Prodi as the commission's new president as of November. The progress report is expected to be released around 13.30 (LCT). Based on the recommendations of the Commission the EU leaders on Dec 17 will decide whether and when to start membership talks with Turkey.
EU not to impose special conditions for Turkey