EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said that the European Commission had not yet concluded whether to begin European Union accession talks with Turkey. "Neither my colleagues in the Commission nor I have decided on the matter in advance," Mr Verheugen told a gathering of the foreign press association.

"I would not want the integrity, the objectivity to be in doubt," he added.

The European Commission is due to produce a report on Turkey's progress towards meeting EU criteria on membership in early October and Turkish markets have been driven by hopes the EU will agree to open formal membership talks in 2005.

Mr Verheugen said the report would analyse the progress Ankara had made in the last five years and would include a study on the impact Turkey's entry would have on the EU. "I would violate my mandate if I said the decision has been taken," he said. "But it is clear that Turkey must have a European future."

Mr Verheugen made remarks in Brussels that were interpreted as a hint the bloc might be ready to start accession talks even if Ankara does not meet all criteria by its October deadline.

"We cannot use double standards here," Mr Verheugen said last week in reference to EU concessions to central and eastern European countries that became members of the bloc in May.

Predominantly Muslim Turkey first sought ties with Brussels in 1963, but has been repeatedly put off. It formally applied to join the bloc in 1987 and was accepted as a candidate in 1999.

Turkey argues it can serve as a bridge to the Muslim world and provide a strong commercial market.

A number of countries, led by France, have expressed doubts over Turkey's membership credentials.

The centre-left German government is an advocate of Turkey's entry, but the opposition Christian Democrat party sees its economy and culture as ill-fitted to the EU.

If Turkey were invited to open negotiations in 2005, Ankara accepts the talks could take many years to complete.