Brussels, 18/11/2004 (Agence Europe) - "I believe the European Union would be stimulated by setting a date for negotiations to start in 2005", the Luxembourg Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, told the press on Wednesday after being received by his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey's Prime Minister said for his part that "there is now no reason why talks should not start". According to AFP, Mr Juncker hopes that Turkey during the European Council of 17 December this year will "obtain a set date in 2005" for starting EU membership negotiations. The aim of the talks is Turkey's accession to the EU, Mr Juncker added, ruling out the hypothesis of a "privileged partnership" between the EU and Turkey, and remarking that this would mean Turkey "would be in all European policies but no institution". At the same time, Mr Juncker recognises that the process will be "open" and that, in the case of "insurmountable difficulties", negotiations could be broken off.
Mr Juncker also pointed out that, the same day, he had spoken at length on the phone with President Chirac, saying: "We both believe membership talks must begin, although we know that public opinion in our countries is more or less reticent".