Freezing EU-Turkey talks 'only credible position' says Barroso

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday defended the recommendation to partially freeze Turkey's membership talks with the European Union.

The recommendation made by the Commission on Wednesday was "the only credible, objective and fair position", Barroso said after meeting German lawmakers in Berlin.

While Turkey's hardline stance on Cyprus was the Commission's main concern, Barroso said there had also been a "slowdown" in reforms in recent months.

But he denied that there was no way back for the predominantly Muslim nation.

"We don't close the door on Turkey, not at all, we are in fact proposing to go ahead with our technical work.

"But we have to show that in fact Turkey is not fulfilling all its obligations, and so there must be some consequence in the overall process of negotiations," Barroso said.

"This is the position of the European Commission taken yesterday unanimously and I hope the member states will support it."

The Commission urged that eight of the 35 policy chapters which all candidate nations must complete remain closed, which would effectively stall Ankara's bid to join the bloc.

The move brought an angry reaction from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.