Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem says he hopes to open European Union membership talks in the second half of this year, 15 years after Turkey first applied to join.
"We hope to make progress during the Spanish presidency and, when Denmark takes over, the talks can actually begin," Mr Cem told reporters after talks in Budapest with Hungary's Foreign Minister Mr Janos Martonyi.
Spain currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency, handing over to Denmark in July.
Turkey, at the geographical and cultural crossroad between Europe and the East, was only offered formal candidate status in 1999 due to longstanding EU concerns over its human rights record, the existence of the death penalty and the military's political power.
Turkey's EU aspirations have also been clouded by ongoing territorial disputes with EU member Greece.
Hungary is in a group of 10 candidate countries which the EU has said could wrap up entry talks in time to join the bloc in 2004.
But a recent Reuters poll of economists and political analysts gave Turkey only a 20 percent chance of joining the EU by 2007.