On 2 September 2005, in response to the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Twenty-Five held on 1 and 2 September in Newport, Wales, in order to discuss whether or not to retain the date of 3 October for the opening of negotiations for accession to the European Union with Turkey and to clarify how they will be conducted, Günter Verheugen, appointed Vice-President of the European Commission presided since 2004 by José Manuel Barroso after having had special responsibility for Enlargement and, subsequently, for European Neighbourhood Policy in the Commission presided by Romano Prodi from 1999 to 2004, grants an interview to the French daily newspaper Le Monde in which he supports Turkey’s application for accession to the European Union.