With only months to go before the Commission is due to give its opinion on Turkish EU membership, the EU says there are still concerns over Turkish human rights standards.
A joint report – agreed on by the EU – is deeply critical of some aspects of Turkey’s human rights laws and express concerns about implementation in other areas.
The report is due to be presented to the Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül today (18 May) when he visits Brussels for regular talks with the EU.
Turkey has been an EU candidate for decades, but still has a long way to go before living up to the criteria set for members of the EU club, the position paper points out.
“In spite of the reforms, there are still a great number of provisions which could be interpreted so as to unduly restrict the exercise of fundamental freedoms”, says the document.
