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ROME (Reuters) - Turkey has no chance of joining the European Union in the foreseeable future, former European Commission President Romano Prodi said in newspapers on Wednesday.

The comments from the man who opened the way for Turkish membership last October when he recommended starting accession talks with Ankara, show political attitudes have changed since the French and Dutch votes against the EU constitution. "We need a re-think," Prodi told regional daily Il Gazzettino. "The referendums have rung a loud alarm on Turkey ... I believe that the conditions now are no longer there for Turkey's entry in the short or medium term."

"The real problem is Turkey," he added.

In France and the Netherlands, "No" campaigners cited the recent EU expansion and the possible admission of Turkey among reasons to vote against the new constitution, even though the document itself would not change the enlargement process.

Prodi, now leader of Italy's centre-left opposition, implied many Italians had an emotional fear of Turkey, a populous and predominantly Muslim country on the edge of mostly Christian Europe. "I come from a country where my mother, when she wanted to say something scary, would say: 'The Turks are coming'."

A spokesman for Prodi said his position was that a slow-down in enlargement was not his wish but was now politically unavoidable.

Nonetheless, Prodi's position marks a clear difference with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who supports Turkey's EU entry despite opposition from many in his centre-right government.

Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli, a member of the euro-sceptic Northern League party, congratulated Prodi for what he viewed as a change of heart.

"Better late than never. Finally even he has realised Turkey must stay out," Calderoli told the Corriere della Sera daily.