European parliament gives green light to talks with Turkey

The EP’s deputies voted 407 in favour of accepting a report prepared by Dutch parliamentarian Camiel Eurlings supporting a start to membership talks to 262 against with 29 abstentions. The vote, however is non-binding on EU leaders, who meet on Friday to discuss whether to commence accession negotiations with Turkey
Speaking in support of the motion, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the parliament that the EU needed to set a clear date for Turkey’s membership talks to start.
“It is now time for the European Council to honour its commitment to Turkey and announce the opening of accession negotiations,” he said. “A clear date should be indicated. We accept that the accession process is open-ended and its outcome cannot be guaranteed beforehand.”
The parliament rejected some motions that were introduced such as the rejection of membership for Turkey, giving it a special status rather than full membership and requiring Ankara to recognise the so-called Armenian genocide.