"Verheugen: French president pushes Turkey to join EU:
Guenter Verheugen, European Commission vice president for enterprise and industry, said it was French President Jacques Chirac who had pushed Turkey to join the EU, Cumhuriyet reported.
Appearing on BBC's 'Hard Talk,' Verheugen said supporting Turkey on its way to the bloc was a policy pursued by the EU for 40 years.
In response to comments made by Frits Bolkenstein, a Dutch member of the European Commission who claimed Turkey's membership would destroy the EU project, Verheugen said, �The Netherlands and southern and northern European countries strongly support Turkey� in disagreeing with Bolkenstein.
�The only way for the maintenance of stability in Turkey in the future is to help in the transformation of the country. That transformation has started. Turkey is changing, and seeing the country proceeding on the way to becoming a strong democracy respecting law and human rights is a great accomplishment from our perspective,� he said. "
More:Turkish Daily News - Turkish press yesterday