Schröder: We Are Engaged To Set A Date for Turkey

German Prime Minister Gerhard Schröder told that they were supporting the idea that Turkey should get a date to commence the accession negotiations at the end of 2004. Schröder, who met Turkish businessmen at a meal on Monday in Berlin, said; We are on the side of Turkey for December 2004. We are engaged to set a date. Turkey can get a date in December 2004 but I cannot predict how much the process after that date will take.

Schröder rejected the argument of Vural Oger, a famous businessman in tourism sector, that European countries were still viewing EU as a formation of the Christian world. Schröder said; Not we.