EU sets Turkish entry timetable

The EU's executive Commission reaffirmed on Wednesday that it aims to bring Turkey into the 25-nation bloc, but not before 2014, in a negotiating mandate which it adopted ahead of starting accession talks with Ankara.

"The negotiations will be based on Turkey's own merits and the pace will depend on Turkey's progress in meeting the requirements for membership," the negotiating mandate said. "The shared objective of the negotiations is accession."

The document states that negotiations for Turkish European Union membership can only be concluded from 2014, after the bloc's next long-term budget which runs from 2007 to 2013.

Accession talks are scheduled to start on October 3, as agreed last December by EU leaders.

But before that, EU foreign ministers must approve the "negotiating framework" unanimously, which may give rise to more wrangling in a political climate increasingly skeptical of Turkish accession following the French and Dutch "No" votes to the EU constitution.

A Commission spokeswoman said the text, seen by Reuters ahead of the EU executive's weekly meeting, had been adopted with only minor changes in the wording.

However, a news conference by Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn was delayed by two hours apparently because of prolonged discussion in the Commission over the political sensitivities surrounding Turkey's membership bid.

A growing number of center-right leaders in western Europe, including the likely next German chancellor and the top presidential contender in France, are opposed to Turkish entry and want the EU to offer only a "privileged partnership."

Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso appeared to cast doubt on Turkey's prospects last week when he said the EU needed to heed the signal from its electorates about enlargement, although he did not call the start of talks into question.