Turkey Against Conditions for EU Bid

On the eve of a crucial report on his country's readiness to begin membership negotiations with the EU, the Turkish foreign minister has said that special conditions should not be attached to Ankara's membership. "It is out of the question that there are special conditions for Turkey", said Abdullah Gül on Monday in Ankara. His words follow newspaper reports that Brussels is considering imposing permanent emergency restrictions on the free movement of workers from Turkey to other member states in a bid to ease fears over large migrant flows. Speaking to German television on Monday, the man responsible for the reports, Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen, said that the EU had a right "to limit and control migration at any time." For the last round of EU enlargement in May, when 10 new member states joined, the 'old' 15 have been allowed to impose restrictions on the central and eastern Europe countries for up to seven years. However, Turkey, which is only expected to join the EU around 2015, is on course to have the greatest population in the EU. Currently, the vast majority of Turkish nationals in the EU is concentrated in Germany. (euobserver.com)