On July 29 Turkey signed a protocol expanding its customs union with the EU to include ten new member-countries, thus meeting the last condition for the opening of entry talks on October 3. Together with that signature, Turkey has submitted a separate declaration in which it explicitly states that this does not mean that it recognises Cyprus, one of the ten new members.
The EU member-countries are expected to agree on the text of a counter-declaration so as to avoid the situation in which some member-countries would not vote for the negotiating framework for Turkey, which would prevent the start of its entry talks on October 3.
Austria could see at the meeting of the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER) that an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers is called for September 26, days before the scheduled start of talks with Turkey, The Guardian reports, adding that the timing of the Austrian intervention is significant because the EU task force evaluating Croatia's cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal is scheduled to meet before that date.
A green light for Croatia would raise the possibility of a symbolic start to EU membership talks for a Muslim and a Catholic country at virtually the same time, the paper says.
"If you start talks with Turkey and not Croatia that is very difficult. Croatia has improved. The big question, to which we do not yet know the answer, is whether it is enough," a European diplomat told The Guardian.