EU Official Backs Full Membership For Muslim Turkey
Dan BilefskyStaff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Updated Dec. 9, 2004 12:01 am ET
BRUSSELS – Just 10 days before the European Union's 25 countries decide whether to open entry talks with Turkey, the EU official in charge of expansion warned that imposing any new conditions on the predominantly Muslim country's entry risks breaking a crucial bridge between the West and the Islamic world.
Olli Rehn, the EU's Finnish commissioner, rejected the prospect of offering Turkey anything less than full membership. "If a coach tells his football team that it must always remain in the second division and...