Brussels, 09/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - With Commissioner Verheugen's return from Turkey, a month off the Commission's report, the general view in Brussels is that the Commission will recommend accession negotiations be opened, notwithstanding any last-minute surprises. On the other hand, the European Commission has not yet tackled the question of the timetable: should it recommend the European Council of December to open negotiations quickly, after a few months of preparatory consultations? Or should it set a longer deadline, without imposing any other conditions than a better implementation of reforms? Would the second solution help to prevent the Turkish question from having undue influence at the referendums on the European Constitution, due to take place next year in several Member States?
"It has been extremely useful for the Commissioner to talk directly to the players on the ground, representatives of civil society, to fine-tune his assessment", Mr Verheugen's spokesperson told Agence Europe on Thursday, on the Commissioner's return from his four-day trip to Turkey. These meetings "confirm the information we have: there is a real revolution underway in the country, everybody told us so", added the spokesperson. However, as the Commissioner has reiterated many times, "there is still a lot of work to be done for reforms to reach the lower levels of bureaucracy". However, the Commissioner feels that it is "understandable" that the reforms will take time.
Commissioner Verheugen is concerned that plans to penalise adultery, to be examined next week by the Turkish parliament as part of the revision of the penal code, "send out a mixed message and look like a nod to the fundamentalists", said his spokesperson. "I struggle to comprehend how a provision like this can be raised at such a time (...), it has to be a joke", the Commissioner told the television channel NTV, during his trip to Turkey, which finished on Thursday. The Commission will not make its withdrawal a necessary condition.