The European Union (EU) summit, which ended on Friday in Brussels, Friday reached agreement on EU enlargement, especially on Turkey accession talks.
Following Thursday's decision of the summit to open accession talks with Turkey on Oct. 3, 2005, the EU leaders had a tough talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday on some remaining obstacles like Cyprus.
"Turkey accepted the offer to him," Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told the press conference after the summit.
He said the Turkish government on Friday issued a declaration, confirming that it was ready to sign the Protocol on the adaptation of the Ankara Agreement prior to the actual start of accession negotiations, which was welcomed by the EU.
The accession talks are an open-ended process, the goal is the EU membership and the outcome can not be guaranteed, said the Dutch prime minister, who will hand over the presidency of the European Council to his Luxembourg counterpart at the end of this month.
The conclusions issued by the summit said the EU would sign accession treaty with Romania and Bulgaria in April 2005 and "looked forward to welcoming it as a member from January 2007."
As for Croatia, the EU would open the accession talks with Croatia on March 17, 2005 "provided that there is full cooperation" with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Hailing the achievements on the enlargement, Balkenende said the decisions made by the EU leaders on Friday was a "significant" and "brave" step for the sustainable development of the EU in years ahead.
"This is a new beginning for both Turkey and the EU," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, dubbing the decision to open accession talks as a "historic" and "milestone" step.
He praised the Dutch presidency had made an "amazing" achievement "in such a short period."
This is not the end of the process, but a beginning to making the EU enlargement enter into a new phrase, he added.
French President Jacque Chirac said Turkey's accession talks would last ten to 15 years and each EU member state would have a say in deciding whether to offer membership to Turkey during the talks.
(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2004)
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