On a visit to Turkey today, David Cameron is due to say: “When I think about what Turkey has done to defend Europe as a Nato ally, and what Turkey is doing today in Afghanistan, alongside our European allies, it makes me angry that your progress towards EU membership can be frustrated in the way it has been.

Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian prime minister and frontrunner to be the EUs first full-time president, is a firm opponent of Turkey's EU membership bid, according to a speech he made in 2004

Asked for the Prime Minister’s view on President Obama’s support for Turkey’s membership of the European Union, the PMS said the Government supported Turkish membership of the European Union and that had been our long standing position. He said Turkey had come a long way in recent years. The technical negotiations, which were part of Turkey’s...

The advocates of EU membership for Turkey invariably use two arguments: (a) that Turkey geographically is part of Europe (as if for example Denmark is an American country because of its Greenland territory, or Spain is an African country because just across the water it has some remnants of its old empire…), and (b) that Turkey, a supposedly secular Muslim country, would be an ideal bridge ...

Is Turkey going to end its bid for accession to the European Union? This is the way it looks after the opening of the NATO summit, where Turkey seems to have vetoed the candidacy of Danish premier Anders Fogh Rasmussen to become the next Secretary General. The Turkish reforms were already down to snail’s pace, so perhaps Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has just decided to ...

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday (12 November) urged the EU to speed up accession talks with Turkey, pledging that the next EU presidencies would be more committed to that goal than Turkey-critic France.

On a visit to Turkey yesterday (27 July), UK Prime Minister David Cameron criticised those who are putting the brakes on Turkey's EU membership talks, highlighting a sharp contrast with Iceland, which started talks on the same day just one year after submitting its bid. EurActiv Turkey contributed to this article.

It appears that Ankara will have to face another hurdle on its path to EU membership as Turkey-critical Austria has pledged to put the issue to a public vote if the Union agrees to accept Turkey's bid to join the bloc.

Egemen Bağış, Turkey's chief EU negotiator, sought yesterday (29 September) to unblock Ankara's accession bid by calling on European Union countries to call referenda on the country's EU membership. Turkey may also chose to consult its citizens, he said.

David Cameron is to argue strongly for Turkey's membership of the European Union, saying he is "angry" at the slow pace of negotiations.