"...What about Turkey?
'We're already negotiating with Turkey. The strategic and geopolitical reasons for that are obvious. And we will see after a certain period of time whether Turkey can meet our standards or not.
'The political point here is that a Turkey which would eventually join the European Union would be a completely different Turkey, would be a Turkey that nobody must be afraid of.
'My advice in that case is - let them negotiate. Let the Turks do their homework, let them continue with the far-reaching reform process in their institutional system, in their judicial system and in the economy that they have started. And then at the end of the day we will decide.'"
More:EU commissioner Verheugen discusses further enlargement on Prague visit - 31-03-2006 - Radio Prague