While not calling for a final ultimatum on whether accession talks with Turkey should be put on ice, German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week during a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac called for a "review clause" allowing any of the EU's 25 members to put a hold on negotiations.

Long a supporter of offering Turkey a "privileged partnership," Merkel's comments alarmed Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a member of the Social Democratic Party, which shares power with Merkel in a grand coalition government and supports Ankara's bid for EU membership.

After facing criticism from members of conservative Christian parties -- who have called for freezing membership talks with Turkey -- over a warning to Merkel about taking too harsh a line with Ankara, Steinmeier denied any difference of opinion between himself and the chancellor.

Playing down differences

"There is no actual difference inside the German government," he told German public broadcaster ARD on Monday morning, adding that he spoke to Merkel Sunday night to go over the German position ahead of a two-day EU foreign minister summit in Brussels, which started Monday.

Steinmeier added that he and Merkel agreed Turkey should not be allowed to escape punishment for refusing official recognition to Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, but that a complete halt to negotiations would be an unwise overreaction.

"I argue for the European reaction being marked by a sense of proportion and responsibility," Steinmeier said in Monday's edition of the German news weekly Der Spiegel. "We must not overstrain things to the extent that the process of moving closer, which has taken many years, is brought down in one week."

Turkey keeps EU at odds

The divisions across Germany's political parties echo those found throughout the 25-member EU as the bloc's foreign ministers began a two-day summit in Brussels on Monday. Differences of opinion across the EU make a breakthrough at the meeting unlikely, Steinmeier said.

"The positions of the European member states are too far apart for that, though they are closer," he told ARD.

However, Steinmeier said the summit could set the groundwork for an agreement when European heads of state meet on Thursday and Friday.

"This meeting today will be important to prepare for the heads of government meeting," he said. "I am very confident that there will be an agreement at the end of this week."

Commission recommends partial freeze

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has recommended that the member states freeze eight of the 35 policy chapters that candidate nations must satisfactorily complete prior to admission.

The proposal was prompted by Turkey's refusal to open its harbors and airports to Greek Cypriot craft as it must do under a customs agreement with the bloc.

The current Finnish EU presidency, while not specifying a number of chapters to be frozen, said in a draft proposal to the foreign ministers that "chapters covering policy areas relevant to Turkey's restrictions as regards the Republic of Cyprus" should not be opened "until the commission confirms that Turkey has fulfilled its commitments."

Steinmeier told Der Speigel that it would be a "serious strategic loss for the EU" if Turkey's door to the block were to be shut.

EU leaders are expected to decide this week if Ankara's last-minute offer last Thursday to open one harbor and possibly an airport to Greek Cypriot traffic is enough to continue talks.