Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned against "endangering" the opportunity for Turkey's accession to the EU. Europe would be making a historic error said Steinmeier at a joint presentation with his Greek colleague Dora Bakoyanni in Munich on Sunday. Bakoyanni commented that it would be unwise to leave Ankara in a state of uncertainty. "We want a European Turkey." However, the conservative politician also emphasized that Turkey's accession would take a long time to complete.

Steinmeier referred to Turkey and Russia in the same breath and underscored the fact that both countries would "play a key political and economic role for Europe in this century". He referred to the latest gas dispute with Russia and emphasized that Moscow would not always be an easy partner to deal with.

"Russia isn't a flawless democracy," commented the social democrat politician, distancing himself from ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder who once praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "flawless democrat". Establishing European values in Russia and creating a close partnership was in the interests of the entire continent, according to Steinmeier.

"Debate on Europe" is the title of the event that brought the two foreign ministers and former EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti to the stage of Munich's Residenztheater. The series of discussions has been organized by the Allianz Cultural Foundation, the Bavarian State Theater and national daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. All three speakers used the opportunity to criticize an "overly negative" representation of Europe in many media. Bakoyanni recalled the Greek colonels who seized power in Greece 40 years ago this April.

The EU has been very successful in overcoming the dictatorships in Europe "left wing and right wing", commented Bakoyanni, who herself fled from the colonels and spent part of her exile in Munich.

The Greek Foreign Minister gave her presentation in German and spoke emphatically in favor of the European constitution. The reformed constitution has been put on ice following referenda in France and the Netherlands. Bakoyanni argued for drawing up at the least a "new mini-treaty", if it proved impossible to resurrect the constitution that had already been ratified by 18 states. Monti believed that "a mini-treaty might prove to be maximally successful".

Steinmeier took a more reserved approach. As President of the EU Council of Ministers - Germany took over the EU Presidency on January 1 - he believed that he also had a duty to represent the interest of those states that had already given their opinion on the constitution. By June, a proposal from Berlin is expected detailing a way forward for the constitutional debate and hence reform of the institutions in the EU which now includes 27 states.

"Populists have cast the EU in a bad light," criticized Bakoyanni. Unfortunately, the EU is alternately used by European governments "as a scapegoat or an alibi". Steinmeier called the EU "the world's biggest political success story in the last 50 years". He included the expansion of the EU. Steinmeier commented that Germany in particular had benefited from expansion to the East.

CHRISTIANE SCHLÖTZER. All rights reserved: Süddeutschen Zeitung