The European Union (EU) decided on Thursday night to offer Turkey the date of Oct. 3, 2005 to start negotiations on its membership of the 25-nation bloc.

The decision was taken by leaders of the 25 EU member countries at their summit in Brussels.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the 25 EU leaders fixed the start date for the talks, which are expected to last for years.

Turkey has no immediate reaction yet. Ankara had suggested a start date in April.

The EU leaders met Thursday for a working dinner at the start of the two-day summit to try to resolve lingering differences standing in the way of a formal invitation to Ankara.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, would confer late Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is in Brussels for the critical summit.

Turkey, which plunged into its worst recession since 1945 after twin financial crises in 2000-2001, hopes EU entry talks will encourage foreign investors.

Earlier this week, Ankara struck a deal with the International Monetary Fund on a new 10-billion-US dollar loan to replace a 19-billion-US dollar deal ending in February.