Barnier joins debate on Turkish EU bid

"Religion has never been a criterion for any country’s membership, and it is not a criterion at the moment, either," the Anatolia news agency quoted Barnier as saying in New York, where he was attending U.N. General Assembly meetings.

His remarks followed those of French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, who said Turkey might one day join the EU but that there were questions regarding the Muslim country’s ability to embrace European human rights values.

"Do we want the river of Islam to enter the riverbed of secularism?" Raffarin had asked. The French prime minister questioned if the cultural values of Turkish society were equivalent to European norms. But he praised Turkey’s progress in adjusting its laws and institutions to EU standards under the administration of Prime Minister Erdogan.

The French minister said the EU had a political and secular structure and added that its criteria were tough and that there were no shorcuts. "There is no means of avoiding the political and economic criteria. They are about human rights and the domestic market," he said.

When asked, Barnier said he did not know about the French prime minister’s remarks. "But other, smaller, Muslim countries will probably tend to take the EU path in the upcoming years. These are Balkan countries," Barnier said.

French President Jacques Chirac has backed Turkey’s EU quest, but he has predicted that the country faces a long road.