Talking to the Austrian daily Der Standard, Mr. Grasser said: "I think the chancellor and the foreign minister have done us a great service by ensuring, against other EU countries' pressure, that accession talks with Turkey will be open-ended. But I want the talks to be postponed altogether. [...] Turkey fulfills neither economic, nor social, nor human rights criteria for entering the EU. The better part of Turkey is part of Asia, and that's also culturally a new dimension that we would be taking on board."
Mr. Grasser also said that the struggle for an EU Constitution was not on people's agenda: "Most in the European population would not miss the Constitution. If no-one misses the Constitution, do we need it then?"
Mr. Grasser started his political career as a close aide to right-wing leader Jörg Haider, but has since stepped out of Mr. Haider's Party and moved closer to Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel's conservative People's Party. Austria's present government is a Coalition of the People's Party and the Haider Party, which has changed its name to 'Alliance for the Future of Austria'.
Mr. Schüssel has just recently attacked the opposition Social Democrat Party for presumably turning away from the Constitution project. On 18 July 2005, the EU's foreign ministers meet for their last summit before the start of accession talks with Turkey, which is scheduled for October 2005. Austria will hold the EU presidency during the first half of 2006.
