Luxembourg - Greece held yesterday against Turkey's participation in a so-called European Conference at which all states wanting to join the European Union would be involved in preparing for membership negotiations. "Greece says there should be certain preconditions before Turkey joins a European Conference," the Greek Prime Minister, Mr Costas Simitis, told reporters through an interpreter.
Mr Simitis, speaking after a dinner attended by EU leaders on the eve of their special one-day summit on jobs, said the preconditions should apply to anyone wanting to join the 15member bloc, not just Turkey. The EU heads of government and state apparently discussed political issues, including thorny Greek-Turkish relations, during the dinner.
EU plans to expand to include new members from eastern Europe will be high on the agenda at next month's end-of-term Luxembourg summit, triggering the start of formal membership talks early next year. Turkey, Cyprus and 10 former communist east European nations are seeking EU membership, but the bloc has been divided over how many should be invited to begin negotiations and how many should be asked to wait.