European Union lawmakers are set to approve a report slamming the slow pace of reform in Turkey in the latest warning from Brussels that the accession hopeful must do better.
A draft of the report to be voted on by the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Monday complains of insufficient progress on freedom of expression and raises concerns over the lot of religious minorities, corruption, and violence against women. The report comes weeks before a crucial European Commission assessment of Ankara's reform efforts and follows a growing chorus of concern from EU officials that Turkey has been dragging its heels since opening entry talks last October.
"The European Parliament ... regrets the slowing down of the reform process," the draft report said, highlighting what it called "persistent shortcomings" across a range of areas.
"The report is a clear signal that if Turkey wants the process to be successful, the speed of reforms must be increased," Camiel Eurlings, the Dutch conservative charged with drafting the report, told Reuters.
The report praised recent acquittals of academics prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness" but cited concerns over cases such as that of Armenian-Turkish editor Hrant Dink, given a suspended six-month jail term for remarks about claims that Ottoman Turkey committed genocide against Armenians in World War One.
A forthcoming law aimed at protecting religious minorities did not go far enough, the report added, whereas a law passed in June increasing the number of crimes classified as terrorism could undermine recent advances in human rights, it said.
Progress on reforms was lacking in other areas including civil-military relations, law enforcement, women's and trade union rights and the independence of the judiciary, it said.
The report affirmed EU calls for Turkey to remove what could be the main stumbling block in the talks this year, notably its refusal to implement an agreement with the EU opening its sea and air ports to Cypriot traffic.
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