President of the European Commission Jose-Manuel Barroso refused Monday to make Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide before its possible accession to the European Union. "This kind of examination must be voluntary. It cannot be imposed ", stated the European Chief Executive, reports the 7SUR7 Belgian newspaper. "One should not pose that as an additional condition", insisted Manuel Barroso by underscoring the "difficulty" and "time" necessary for that kind of debate.

Jose-Manuel Barroso rejected any purely geographical definition of the Union. "There is no geographical consensus on the borders of the Union. Let us seek a political consensus rather, because deciding is up to us", but "one should not say 'no' to those countries, which display their will towards Europe," he remarked. In the words of Barroso, the European Union should accept all countries which fulfill the EU joining criteria and "which represent a step forward and an added value for European integration", he concluded