Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-12-14-Speech-2-607"
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"en.20101214.39.2-607"2
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"The Helsinki European Council of December 1999 granted Turkey the status of candidate country and accession negotiations with Turkey were opened in October 2005. The Commission has reported regularly to the Council and Parliament on Turkish progress towards meeting the Copenhagen criteria.
It remains crucial that Turkey improves its administrative capacity to implement and enforce EU-related legislation.
On 9 November, the Commission published the 2010 progress report on Turkey. The report covers the period from early October 2009 to October 2010 and progress is measured on the basis of decisions taken, legislation adopted and measures implemented.
Turkey has pursued its political reform process, in particular, through the reform of its constitution, and continues to sufficiently fulfil the political criteria. The constitutional amendments adopted by referendum on 12 September created the conditions for progress in a number of areas such as the judiciary, fundamental rights and public administration.
The implementation of the constitutional changes in a transparent and inclusive way is essential for Turkish progress. The democratic opening aimed notably at addressing the Kurdish issue has not yet met expectations. The decision of the constitutional court to close down the Democratic Society Party and a surge in PKK terrorist attacks also undermined this policy.
Significant reforms are still required on fundamental rights, in particular, in the area of freedom of expression. The high number of legal suits against journalists and undue pressure on the media undermine freedom of the press in practice.
With regard to regional issues and international obligations, it is now urgent that Turkey fulfils its obligation of full non-discriminatory implementation of additional protocols to the association agreement. The Commission has recommended that, if there is no progress on this issue, the measures adopted by the European Union in 2006 should be upheld. This will affect the overall progress of the negotiations.
Turkey has continued to express public support for the negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations between the leaders of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities to reach a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem. However, there has been no progress towards normalisation of bilateral relations with the Republic of Cyprus.
As regards the economic criteria for accession to the European Union, Turkey continues to be a functioning market economy that can cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union. Turkey has witnessed strong economic growth in 2010, recouping the losses incurred during the financial crisis, but the process of privatisation and structural reform needs to continue.
Turkey continued improving its ability to take on the obligations of membership by aligning its laws and regulations with those of the European Union. Two negotiating chapters were opened during this reporting period – environment and food safety – adding to a total of 13 chapters that are currently open. Important progress has been made on energy security with the ratification of the intergovernmental agreement on Nabucco, and on cooperation in the aviation sector with initialisation of the EU-Turkey horizontal aviation agreement. Much alignment remains to be done, particularly on fisheries, social policies, justice and home affairs, and the customs union where longstanding trade issues remain unresolved."@en1
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