The secret ballot was held ahead of last night's meeting of the European Council. However, aware that controversial issues such as the Cyprus situation, and human rights and religious freedoms concerns remain unresolved, the MEPs agreed that if "serious breaches of the political criteria" occur, accession negotiations should be suspended.

Meanwhile, in an apparent attempt to moderate the demands likely to be made on the Turkish government, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that if the conditions presented at this week's Brussels meeting were unacceptable, Turkey would move forward with its plans to modernise without EU assistance.

According to reports in the European media ahead of the EU Council meeting, Mr Erdogan suggested that if "unacceptable conditions" were attached to Turkey's EU entry "we will definitely put the matter in the refrigerator and continue on our way".