June 12 (Bloomberg) -- European Union officials meeting today may warn that Turkey is dragging its feet on resolving a dispute with Cyprus and embracing human rights, imperiling Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's bid to join the union.

``The speed of reforms is not the same as in the past,'' Joost Lagendijk, a Dutch member of the European Parliament who leads a committee scrutinizing the discussions, said in an interview. ``The government needs to be more courageous.''

The comments are the latest sign that Turkey's efforts to join the union may be faltering after eight months of discussions. Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim nation of 72 million people, is relying on EU membership to boost living standards and attract foreign investment needed to slash a jobless rate of 11.9 percent.

Erdogan's popularity has slumped in recent months after attacks by Islamists, accelerating inflation and a drop in the value of the Turkish lira. With a new round of parliamentary elections due next year, his room to make political concessions to the EU is limited.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and delegates from the Austria, which holds the presidency the union, will meet with Turkish officials in Luxembourg today beginning at 4:30 p.m. local time. EU leaders assess the issue on June 15 in Brussels.

Already, Germany has signaled concerns that not enough is being done to lift sanctions against Cyprus, which Turkey invaded in 1974. Turkey has made ``no progress'' in allowing Cypriot ships and planes to travel to Turkey, German Foreign Minister Frank- Walter Steinmeier said on June 2.

Boycott Threat

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told Hurriyet newspaper that he may boycott today's meeting if Cyprus doesn't withdraw its demand for ports to be opened as a condition for more progress in membership talks, the daily reported today.

Europe's political leaders agreed to start membership talks on Oct. 3 after Erdogan pledged to make democratic reforms and lift trade curbs. The EU reserved the right to suspend talks if not enough progress is made.

``Cyprus right now is the only issue over which the EU might halt the talks and I can't really see a way out,'' Katinka Barysch, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London, said in a telephone interview on June 7. ``If that issue flares up, we might get more economic instability in Turkey.''

Waning Support

Support for Erdogan's governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has fallen 10 percentage points since January to 24 percent, according to a survey by Sonar Arastirma AS conducted between May 20 and June 3. AKP won 34 percent of the vote in the November 2002 election.

Erdogan, who took office pledging to push forward talks with the EU, is reluctant to inflame divisions with nationalist parties by making concessions to the EU ahead of parliamentary elections that must be held by November 2007.

Those tensions escalated on May 17, when a suspected Islamist militant shot dead a senior judge for defending a ban on teachers wearing the Islamic headscarf. The incident renewed concerns that AKP, rooted in an Islamic movement banned by the courts in 1997, is undermining Turkey's secular principles by relaxing laws against traditional Muslim clothing.

An economic slump further limits Erdogan's room for maneuver. The lira lost 16 percent of its value against the dollar in May on concern that political tensions may lead the government to bring forward the date for elections.

Lira Weakness

Company executives led by Mustafa Koc, chairman of the country's biggest company Koc Holding AS, said on June 2 that a slump in the lira may be exacerbated by ``the slowdown we've seen in the reform process.''

During the past five years, Turkey has implemented measures expanding rights for the nation's 12 millions Kurds and reducing the influence of the military, which has toppled three governments in the past four decades.

Still, some EU leaders are uneasy with allowing Turkey into the union. German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed a looser ``privileged partnership'' with Turkey when she was running for election last year. In France, Nicolas Sarkozy, a French presidential hopeful for 2007, says the EU should shut the door after letting in Romania and Bulgaria.

``I don't see any Turkish government making the required gestures on Cyprus without something in return,'' said Lagendijk, the Dutch lawmaker. He added that Turkey should work to ``restore confidence that the EU process is on track.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Bentley in Ankara on mbentley3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 12, 2006 03:18 EDT