EU: The incoming President of the European Commission has said that Turkey is not yet ready to join the EU, but that it should be allowed to start entry talks if it passes reforms demanded by Brussels, writes Denis Staunton in Brussels
Mr Jose Manuel Barroso told the French newspaper, Le Monde, that Turkey must fulfil all the political criteria laid down by the EU before a date could be set for the start of negotiations.
"It has made a great deal of progress - we recognise that - but as I speak to you now, not all the criteria have been met," he said.
Turkey's ruling party said yesterday that parliament could reconvene to approve key penal code reforms once the Prime Minister, Mr Tayyip Erdogan, concluded talks in Brussels tomorrow with senior EU officials.
"Politics is a dynamic affair. Things can change in an hour," said Mr Dengir Mir Mehmet Firat, deputy head of the ruling AKP party.
He was responding to demands earlier in the day from the opposition to have parliament recalled.
The Turkish opposition leader, Mr Deniz Baykal, said it was essential that the government in Ankara put an end to the "negative mood" that has formed in the EU against Turkey before the Commission reports next month on the country's readiness to start negotiations.
Mr Erdogan's meetings tomorrow with the Commission and the European Parliament come amid growing concern among Turkey's supporters that the controversy over the adultery ban could wreck the country's chances of starting talks.
Mr Erdogan has told the EU to stop interfering in Turkey's internal affairs, but Mr Barroso told Le Monde that Europe has every right to criticise national laws.
"It is Turkey that has to adapt to the rules of the European Union, not Europe to Turkey's rules.
"If a country wants to join, it has to accept the rules," Mr Barroso said.
The leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament, Mr Martin Schulz, said that the EU must not consider starting talks with Turkey unless and until its penal code reform was complete.
"There is no place in the EU for a country that tolerates abuse of human rights. The proposal to make adultery illegal is totally unacceptable.
"If Turkey wants to join the EU, it must support European values and continue on the path of positive reform," he said.