Senior European officials last weekend quickly rebuffed comments made by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing saying Turkish membership would mean "the end of the European Union." Giscard, who is the head of the convention on European Union reform, told the last weekend edition of the French newspaper Le Monde that he was firmly in favour of keeping Turkey out of the EU. "Turkey is a country close to Europe, an important country," he said, "but it is not a European country. Its capital is not in Europe, it has 95 percent of its population outside of Europe."

The European Commission shrugged off Giscard's comments, saying Ankara remained on a list of countries eligible for membership of the 15-nation bloc. "Turkey has been recognised as a candidate country ... the Commission has no intention of contesting this," Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori told reporters. Filori said he did not want to start a "ping pong match" with Giscard, who heads a 105-member convention or forum studying EU reform.

But the EU's "pre-accession strategy" on Turkey - under which the country is being told to make more progress on political and economic reform before the bloc can open membership talks - was clearly working, Filori insisted.

European Commission President Romano Prodi told the Spanish daily El Pais the same day that Turkey may be able to join the European Union if it meets the conditions set for members, warning that "it would be a tragedy to consider religion as a divisive factor." Prodi said a possible reference to Christian identity in an eventual EU constitution would not "contradict the principle of religious plurality." Prodi added that the "historic and cultural differences" with Turkey could be overcome. "If there is no dialogue with Turkey, tragedy will follow," he cautioned.

Instead of EU membership, Giscard suggested a formal pact of partnership and cooperation, such as the Union has with Ukraine. "We can not discuss, as we do with internal EU legislation, extremely sensitive points about a daily life that is uniquely European and then say that certain discussions will be extended to countries that have a different culture, a different approach, a different lifestyle," he said.

Giscard said he regretted the fact that the EU "has always spoken in ambiguous terms with the Turks, since the majority of the members of the European Council have in reality declared themselves against (Turkish membership). But they have never said it to the Turks." Giscard's stance contrasts with a more cautious wait and see approach to the overwhelming victory by the Justice and Development Party adopted by EU governments and the Commission