EU paves way for Turkey to join

[muriel_volestrangler]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3719052.stm

The European Commission has recommended opening talks on the admission of Turkey to the EU - but Ankara must meet stiff conditions, EU officials say.
...
"It is a qualified yes," EU Commission President Romano Prodi told European parliament leaders.

"It's flanked with a whole series of recommendations for monitoring and verifying what the situation is actually like."

Mr Prodi said Turkey would have to improve its human rights record if the talks were to succeed and warned that Turkish membership was not a foregone conclusion.

[gottaB]

1. Is there a major difference between France and Germany on this?

That's just an impression I get. Any insights?

[Voice_of_Europe]

2. It's only a "Yes, lets TALK about it"

IF or WHEN Turkey will join the EU is a matter of the next 10 years.

This decision now only means that EU and Turkey will have talks and what conditions Turkey will have to meet in order to be a candidate at all.

Turkey has a totally different approach than the EU on almost any issue. The whole social structure, moral values, family, business, politics and so on... hard to integrate.

To me it seems as if a boy scout would want to join the girl scouts because the girls sell more cookies. Of course Turkey wants to join and have advatages but they are veeeery different from the average European.
But that's just my personal view.