Rejection of Turkey’s entry talks would lead to bad consequences

Verheugen said granting Turkey a European perspective was very important because of radical fundamentalist danger, and stressed that "privileged partnership" proposed to Turkey by German Christian Democratic Unity Party (CDU) leader Angela Merkel was not a "serious alternative" for the time being.

Verheugen said Turkey’s EU membership would not bring a big and unendurable burden on the EU, stressing that accession of 10 new countries on May 1st proved that several concerns were baseless.

Verheugen said a huge refugee wave towards the EU did not happen and no significant increase was observed in acts of crime after accession of those new countries. "On the contrary," Verheugen said Europe became more stable in political sense and more vivid in economic sense.

Stating that there were some differences between the laws adopted in Turkey and the realities of the society, Verheugen said, "we are very closely monitoring it. In case all the reforms are put into force as a whole, I will prepare a proposal that will provide progress in membership negotiations."