Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-05-21-Speech-3-067"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20080521.4.3-067"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Madam President, I too would like to start by expressing warm thanks to Mrs Oomen-Ruijten for the good cooperation, which was just as constructive this time as it was last autumn. Substantial consensus is a characteristic of this report. The parliamentary groups agree that Turkey must continue to make ongoing improvements of its own accord, but must do so far more rapidly than before. We also agree that this is something that we can, and indeed, must expect from an accession candidate.
We also believe that the reforms must be pursued despite the major domestic political crisis. I would like to take up a point which Mr Swoboda has just made: the European Union is not party to this prohibition process. Commissioner Rehn is right to say that secularism and democracy must be defended; otherwise, like Mr Swoboda, I can see us facing a fundamental democratic problem which will place great strain on the accession negotiations.
What is important to note is that many of the problems that we are talking about have existed for some time, so only a few points need to be emphasised here. Last year, we welcomed the fact that the Turkish Government had received a clear and unequivocal mandate for further reforms. We called for this mandate to be utilised in order to genuinely drive forward the reforms. We welcome the adoption of the Law on Foundations. That is a positive step, but on balance, we must say – and I think there is unanimity here as well – that we are all disappointed, overall, by what has been achieved.
Let us take the constitutional reform: this is overshadowed by the headscarf debate to such an extent that no real progress has been made on the fundamental renewal of Turkey’s constitution. The headscarf debate is also an issue of freedom of religion and freedom of opinion, but it must not be used for the cultural oppression of women who espouse secular attitudes.
Another important issue, especially for the Liberal Group, is freedom of speech. The so-called reform of Article 301 is unsatisfactory from our perspective. I have spoken to many people in Turkey itself and, there too, very few people believe that this reform of Article 301 is serious and well-founded, especially as it is now a symbolic paragraph. There are many other paragraphs in the Penal Code which restrict freedom of speech. I do not want to list them all, but there is still a great deal of work to do here.
Another point which I would briefly like to mention concerns relations with Turkey within the EU and NATO frameworks. We wish to stress that we expect Turkey to show a positive attitude towards European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) missions. We understand the difficulties that exist. Nonetheless, we expect an accession candidate to show a European spirit when the security of European personnel in missions such as EUPOL and EULEX is at stake."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples