Brussels, 19/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is in Brussels on Wednesday, is reported by AFP to have been granted José Maria Aznar's approval on Monday for a "time frame" for opening membership talks with Turkey to be given at the Copenhagen Summit. In Athens, Mr Erdogan had called on the EU to decide the exact date in Copenhagen. Still according to AFP, Costas Simitis pointed out Greece's support "of principle" to this request by Turkey, while insisting on the need to find a solution to the problem of Cyprus before the Copenhagen meeting.
In Madrid, Mr Erdogan, who was accompanied by Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis and Defence Minister Vedci Gonul, hinted that Turkey may agree at the NATO Summit on 21 and 22 November in Prague to a text finalising an agreement on NATO-EU relations (after the issue of participation of European non-EU member allies in EU-led peace-keeping operations had been brought out of deadlock at the European Council in Brussels). If there is no such agreement then any EU action in Macedonia would be blocked. The Union was to take over from NATO at the head of the small Amber Fox force from 15 December.
During a telephone conversation with the President of the European Council, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, President Bush reaffirmed, according to a White House spokesperson, how important Turkey's accession to the EU was for the United States.