Concerns in Denmark over speed of Turkey’s EU bid

They fear that a number of as yet unresolved issues will be left by the wayside in the lead up to Turkey’s admission should it be given a date for accession talks to start at this December’s summit of EU leaders, one Danish paper reported.
“We know there’s not a very broad level of public support for this,” Conservative Party Member of the European Parliament Gitte Seeberg was quoted as saying. “So it’s important not to go soft on the criteria right now. Naturally, we stand by our promises. Once Turkey meets the accession criteria, the negotiations process can begin. But a number of incidents in recent weeks have cast doubt on the human rights situation in the country.
Another to demand that Turkey met all of the accession criteria was Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
“I would like to emphasise that this is not only a question of formal passage (of reforms) in the Turkish Parliament. These reforms must be put into practice in Turkish society before accession talks can begin,” Rasmussen said Thursday.