Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Vatican's Cultural Department, has criticized the start to EU accession talks with Turkey, opining that it is a country where "Christians are treated as second class citizens." Noting that "There are very many domestic problems in Turkey," Cardinal Poupard said "It is ridiculous for a future EU country to have weakness on the subject of religious freedom, and to treat Christians as second class citizens. I would be pleased if there could be some sort of agreement on these problems during the talks. But an agreement on these problems would have to be absolutely concrete, and not just verbal."

Cardinal Poupard also cast a pessimistic note on the future relationship between Turkey and the EU, saying "there is very little common ground between Turkey and Europe," and intoning that the EU was making a "big mistake" by moving to take Turkey into its community.