EUROPEAN COUNCIL: TURKEY GETS A CHANCE, SECOND WAVE GETS A START TO NEGOTIATIONS.

European Union leaders decided during their first working session at their Helsinki Summit on another major boost to enlargement of the 15-nation bloc. They said they would recognise Turkey as a formal candidate - after keeping it waiting for twenty years since Turkey first applied for membership. And they decided to open formal accession negotiations with six more countries: the five "second-wave" candidates, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and the island of Malta. But the deal with Turkey was hanging in the balance as European Report went to press: the Turkish cabinet was meeting to review the terms of the EU invitation, to see whether it did not impose too many preconditions for Turkish pride. Javier Solana and Gnter Verheugen were preparing to leave for urgent talks in Ankara late in the afternoon of December 10, as news came in of a less than enthusiastic initial response from the Turkish Cabinet.

The Prime Ministers and Presidents of the EU decided to push forward with an ambitious scheme that could nearly double the size of the EU over the next decade or so. Already the EU is negotiating with Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia and Cyprus. The European Council decision also includes an commitment to be ready to take on new members as from the end of 2002 - although as Gnter Verheugen, the European Commissioner responsible for enlargement, said after the decision was announced, the actual date will depend on the speed at which negotiations are concluded: "At this stage I cannot foresee a firm date", he said. Right up to the last minute, Greece had been maintaining its longstanding opposition to bringing in its historic enemy. Even as he went into the Council, the delegation was giving out warning signals that it would abandon its preconditions. Greece wanted tough language in the invitation to Turkey on firm and early commitments to refer Greek-Turkish territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It also wanted a clear "road-map" on Turkish moves towards political and democratic reform. And it wanted assurances that Turkey would not try to block the accession of Cyprus - currently divided between separate Greek and Turkish communities: the Greek Cypriot community is currently negotiating with the EU, but the EU has always emphasised the risks it would run if it were to accept a divided Cyprus as a member. Turkey had been making it clear before the summit...