You might be forgiven for assuming that, when European Union leaders meet in Brussels next week, they will have little to say on the main item on their agenda: Turkey's bid to join the EU. The European Commission has recommended the opening of membership talks next year, and most EU leaders are in favour. Yet discussion could still be acrimonious. The first issue will be when to start the talks. The Turks want a date early in 2005. What they will probably get is a promise of a start some time in the second half of 2005. The reason is that the French referendum on the EU constitution could be in May, and the government is desperate to avoid Turkey clouding the debate. A second argument will be whether to accede to those who want to state explicitly that talks may not end in membership, but instead in a "privileged partnership". The betting is that no such reference will appear in the summit's conclusions.
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