Today's Date:

THE PRESIDENT (...) Seeing an important new step taken on the road towards European union is a moving moment. We haven’t, of course, reached the end of our process, but we have today passed an essential milestone. And, this evening, deep down we can't help thinking of all the victims of the wars of the twentieth century, nor can we help thinking about all the victims of anti-Semitism, racism, of all the catastrophes which have left their mark on our continent, of all those caused by its divisions, conflicts of interests, man's folly, the inability to exercise self-control. And seeing, this evening, these twenty-five nations, to whose number are added another three potential members of the family, we could not help feeling genuine emotion. I should like to begin by saying how much I personally have valued the Danish presidency. It has displayed outstanding firmness, skill and shrewdness. It has succeeded in overcoming very many inevitable obstacles and the also inevitable quarrels between conflicting interests which have marked this enlargement. It has done so with great political acumen and very efficiently. I am not saying this just to pay a compliment to the Danish presidency, it's an expression of genuine gratitude. We have signalled a desire ever more deeply to entrench democracy and peace, and so stability in our continent. Tomorrow we shall welcome Bulgaria and Romania, and Turkey too, if she fulfils the requisite conditions as regards human rights and the market economy.
So we’ve had a very positive Council.

THE PRESIDENT – We don’t want to close the door on anyone. We are keen for the Union to be a European Union and we think that the whole of Europe is destined to be part of it. This, of course, requires the candidates to fulfil certain conditions. It would be bad for Europe, but probably even worse for the candidates, for them to join without being able to abide by the EU’s ground rules. (...)

THE PRESIDENT – I assume you’ve got the answer and want it confirmed. (...) An agreement has been achieved between the European Union and NATO (...) The problem is solved and, on Monday morning, NATO will be meeting officially to confirm this agreement – i.e. "Berlin Plus" – in the sphere of European defence policy. You know that France had been campaigning hard in this area and we are particularly pleased with this positive result. (...)

THE PRESIDENT – What I can tell you is that we, the Federal German Chancellor and I, made a proposal before what you call “the pressure” started to be exerted. And we didn't change our position one iota. So I won't voice any opinion on any possible pressure exerted in various quarters. (...)
As regards Turkey, let me simply remind you that in 1949 she was a founder member of the Council of Europe, in 1952 she was an active member of NATO, in 1963 she signed an association agreement with the European Union, then called the Community. (...) The European Union of 1963 recognized that Turkey was a natural candidate for membership. In 1995, we had the Customs Union. In short, Turkey was obviously on the road to accession.
The only obstacle to her accession was, of course, the so-called Copenhagen criteria, i.e. her fulfilment of all the attributes of a democracy and implementation of all the measures required to ensure a market economy and respect for human rights, freedoms. And, from this point of view, Turkey was obviously not quite ready for membership.
In the past one or two years, she has begun to make progress. She has displayed a very strong determination (...) to pursue her effort to fulfil all the criteria pertaining to democracy and the market economy. A priori, we are fully prepared to trust her. Turkey has a very old civilization and naturally we have neither the possibility, given her past and history, nor the desire to prevent a Turkey who is totally democratic and liberal – liberal in the free-market sense –, from joining us.
This is the reason for the decision taken today, I repeat, on the basis of a proposal which the German Chancellor and I finalized in Berlin at our last meeting, a few days ago, and which consisted in saying: today Turkey hasn't satisfied, doesn't today satisfy the conditions, particularly with respect to human rights. She has the will to fulfil them as quickly as possible. Well, in December 2004, i.e. in two years' time, there will be an assessment on the basis of a report and recommendation by the Commission to the European Council. If, basing itself on this Commission report and recommendation, the Council considers that Turkey meets the so-called Copenhagen conditions, at that point (...), in the ensuing six months, for technical reasons (...), the accession negotiations will be able to begin. If, on the contrary, Turkey were found not yet to have made all the progress we require on the democratic front to enable her to become a member of the EU, then, at that moment the accession would, of course, be postponed. Personally, I think that Turkey is determined, and is capable of satisfying the requisite criteria in the areas of human rights and the market economy to join us.

Q. – How soon do you think that the European Union/NATO agreement will allow the European Union to take over from NATO in Macedonia?

THE PRESIDENT I'd say immediately. Materially, the operation is neither complicated nor long to finalize. It's a matter of a few weeks and that's exactly what we had, I would say, foreseen. So things will happen very fast, i.e. in the next few weeks. (...)

Q. – (On Turkey)

THE PRESIDENT – Respect for minorities is one of the foremost requirements for democracy. Turkey has already taken some steps in this direction, particularly at the linguistic level, as regards the Kurds. But there's still a lot to do. (...) If Turkey wants to join the EU, and I believe she really does, she will have to carry out her reforms, not just on the legislative front, but on the ground, at the practical level. I don't doubt she wants to do this. But all this has naturally to be proved. Hence the period we have set for consideration of the situation, and the sine qua non for accession of fulfilment of all these criteria.