BELGIUM:Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn has warned that French attempts to derail Turkey's bid to join the EU risk inflaming Islamic tensions and destabilising the Middle East.
He has also moved to quash any expectations of a rapid expansion of EU enlargement following a political deal on a new EU "reform treaty" last week.
Speaking after France exercised its veto to block talks on a new negotiating chapter in Turkey's enlargement process, the Finnish commissioner said Ankara was an "anchor of stability" in "a most unstable region".
"If you look at the current political situation in the Middle East, in Palestine, in Lebanon, not to speak of Iraq, we don't need another nationalist or Islamist problem in the neighbourhood of Europe," said Mr Rehn.
"The best way of avoiding this is to keep the EU accession progress alive, continue the negotiations and give Turkey a chance [ to see] whether it will be able to meet all the democratic and legislative criteria of EU accession."
But Turkey's 40-year bid to join the union now faces a tough challenge following the assumption to power of French president Nicolas Sarkozy. A trenchant opponent of extending EU membership to Turkey, this week he blocked talks on one of 35 negotiating chapters.
Paris exercised its veto to block negotiations related to economic and monetary affairs. Two other negotiating chapters were opened, but the French action is being seen as the first in a series of tough battles over Ankara's EU aspirations.
Mr Sarkozy is also pressing Portugal, which will assume the six-month rotating EU presidency in July, to stage an EU leaders' debate on enlargement in December.
Asked if he felt a "showdown" with Mr Sarkozy was likely on Turkey, Mr Rehn said this was not the right word but acknowledged the commission opposed his ideas. "It is a matter of our credibility in international negotiations," he said.
Mr Rehn said he saw similarities between Turkey's position now and that of eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin wall. He said the EU accession process was a very strong driver for reform and a guarantee of democratic principles. "It shouldn't be seen as a problem, rather as a solution," said Mr Rehn, who described Turkey as an important bridge between the Islamic and Christian worlds.
But he signalled there would be no easy ride for Turkey, and criticised a recent political intervention by the Turkish army, which opposed a nominee for the presidency, Abdullah Gül.
This is "an open-ended process by its very nature and there is no automaticity", said Mr Rehn, referring to Turkey's enlargement talks.
Mr Rehn also moved to dampen down any expectations that the political deal on the blueprint of a new EU "reform treaty" reached last week will spark a new round of EU enlargement. Prior to last week's summit, several EU leaders had warned that no new enlargement would be possible until the union reformed its political institutions.
"The reformed treaty will not mean a new speeding up of enlargement, rather it further consolidates our enlargement agenda and the principles we apply rigorously in enlargement," said Mr Rehn, who downplayed the significance of new references in the treaty to the need for candidates to meet the conditions for EU membership.
"I find that most sensible because this has worked well and provides us with sufficiently rigorous conditionality," he said. "Our hands are already tied and they need to be tied. We have very clear conditions for EU accession and these conditions are based on common values and we need to apply these conditions rigorously."
He said the commission would no longer set early dates for accession before states met the conditions.
But he hinted the next round of enlargement would include Croatia, which had reached "cruising speed" in its negotiations despite beginning at the same time as Turkey. Talks with Serbia began this month on signing a new stabilisation agreement.
However, Mr Rehn warned there could be no short-cuts in accession talks, even if Serbia delivered war criminals such as Radko Mladic to The Hague.
"There is no legal basis possible to consider any short-cuts," said Mr Rehn, who will have his work cut out to keep the enlargement agenda alive with Mr Sarkozy at the helm.