Brussels, 20/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - Despite the assurances from European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, on Monday morning, that "enlargement has survived the summit", the Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül did not hide a certain amount of concern over the weekend, with European leaders, notably in France, or in Germany, with the CDU candidate to the Chancellorship in the elections planned for next September, Angela Merkel, calling for the process of the enlargement of the EU to be slowed down or rethought entirely.
"For the time being, we cannot say that what has happened will not affect Turkey's accession, we will have to wait for the dust to settle", Abdullah Gül told the Turkish daily Radikal on Saturday. In its conclusions, the European Council does not refer explicitly to Turkey or to the opening of negotiations planned for three October. It does so indirectly, as it "reiterates its conclusions of 17 and 18 June 2004 and of 16 and 17 December 2004 on enlargement, and stresses the need to implement them fully". On Monday, Commissioner Rehn's spokesperson said that the fact that these conclusions had been repeated showed that there had been no change in position. She pointed out that the Commission intends to present a draft framework for these negotiations at the end of June.
In a speech before the European Policy Centre on Monday, Commissioner Rehn said that it would be "irresponsible to break off " the process of enlargement further to the rejection of the Constitution. Before referring to Turkey, he stressed the importance of the prospect of accession for the Balkan states. "The European prospect is the cement for peace in the western Balkans", he said.