Turkey Taken Aback by Verheugen’s "Extremely Critical" Remark

It had been generally expected that the progress report would be positive; however, observers in Brussels hint that there might be several "conditions" attached to the report.

Attracting a great deal of attention yesterday was the fact that Verheugen, in his statement to Germany’s Bild am Sontag paper, did not respond to a question about whether or not he would propose starting membership discussions with Turkey.

Commented Verheugen, "The report over the state of reforms in Turkey will be extremely critical, much more critical than many observers expect. Turkey will find it hard to accept everything that we have written."

"Any country can at any moment stop the process. This is definitely not automatic," said Verheugen as he explained that the prospective talks would be an open-ended process. "Any decision that could be perceived by Turkey as a refusal could spell the end of the reform process in that country. In the long term it could compromise the security of Europe."

Spain’s El Pais paper indicates that EU Commission prepared a new and confidential report for Turkey in addition to the progress report. The secret report allegedly suggests delaying the negotiations in case problems arise with "topics of military, human rights and religion" during the talks.

Austria’s Die Presse paper writes that the Commission will suggest that talks with Turkey be open-ended.

Belgium’s La Libre Belgique daily reminds that a "conditional yes" from the Commission would be a "prudent and chilling diagnosis."

The EU leaders will make a final decision at the December 17th EU summit on whether or not to extend a discussion date to Turkey.