Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats and the pro-business Free Democrats agreed "unanimously" to stick with the last government's position on Turkey's EU membership bid, sources from both parties told AFP on Thursday.

The previous coalition of the Christian Democrats with the center-left Social Democrats had called the negotiations an "open-ended process" with no guarantee of membership.

The deal between the parties is expected be worded in a similar fashion to Merkel's 2005 coalition agreement.

In that document, the parties said "if the EU is not in a position to take on new members or Turkey cannot fully meet all the criteria necessary for membership, Turkey must be bound closely to European structures in a way that allows its privileged relationship with the EU to develop further."

Many had speculated prior to the talks that the new government would outline a tougher stance against Turkey's EU membership bid, since Merkel's conservatives are strongly opposed to it. They prefer a "privileged partnership" for Turkey instead.

Turkey's disputed EU bid

The Free Democrats, on the other hand, is not against Turkey's membership in principle, but says there are "major deficits" in Turkey's efforts to meet EU criteria for entry.

The leader of the Free Democrats, Guido Westerwelle - who is widely expected to become Germany's new foreign minister - is open to membership, but says Turkey first needs to resolve its ongoing dispute with EU-member Cyprus and improve rights for the country's Kurds.

Turkey has also been criticized for not making sufficient progress in improving its human rights record and reforming the judiciary.

The news of the coalition's compromise on Turkey comes one day after the European Commission released its annual progress report on Turkey's bid to join the EU, which gave a mixed review.

Whether or not to allow Turkey accession into the EU has been a contentious issue in Germany - and across Europe - since official talks were opened in 2005. Even those hopeful that Turkey will eventually gain entry acknowledge that it could take decades.

vj/AFP/Reuters/KNA
Editor: Andreas Illmer