Brussels, 15/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 12 April, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle hailed, on Twitter, Turkey's adoption of the fourth judicial package, hoping that it “will address the issues of past EU concerns”. In a press release, he also hailed the government's efforts to reach this vote. “The adoption by the parliament of the long-awaited legislation on anti-terror, which will align the Turkish law with European standards, is overall a very positive development”, Füle underlined, saying that he hoped the text would address a number of issues on fundamental rights “that were a source of concern over the past years in Turkey”.
While understanding that the focus of the fourth judicial reform package is respect of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Füle regretted “the omission of conscientious objection” in the package. He said that, according to his understanding, the outstanding points will be included in the forthcoming human rights action plan, which he hopes will be finalised “very soon”.
Füle stated that the European Commission will assess the legislation “in detail” and its implementation, and will properly take account of it in its progress report which will be published in autumn 2013.
The fourth package was adopted on 11 April. It focuses on limiting the abuse of anti-terrorist legislation and improving freedom of information and expression. The package aims to eliminate rulings against Ankara before the ECHR - Turkey being the second most summoned country and the most sanctioned country.