Brussels, 23/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 23 October, 52 MEPs mainly from the S&D Group and Greens, but also from the ALDE, GUE, EPP and EFDD Groups, and of 20 different nationalities (Austrian, Belgian, British, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Czech, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish), called for the progress report on Turkey to be published before the parliamentary elections in Turkey on 1 November.
The enlargement reports are published every year, generally in mid-October, but for 2015, their publication - which had been announced for 14 October - was postponed until the week of 19 October, and then no further date has been announced.
“The postponement of this year's progress report signals a lack of willingness to speak up against the Turkish government's backtrack on reforms prior to the upcoming general election. This sets a bad precedent and creates the image that the EU is willing to soften its tone on internal developments in Turkey in exchange for cooperation on refugees. We would hereby like to call upon the European Commission to publish its progress report on Turkey ahead of the 1 November elections”, the MEPs write in a letter to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.
In their letter, the MEPs also speak of their concern at the fact that the accession negotiations with Turkey are “being used as a bargaining chip for the Draft Action Plan” between the EU and Turkey on refugees. “EU conditionality for enlargement should not be a political instrument to compensate for a failed strategy to tackle the refugee crisis”, they said, adding that the same went for visa liberalisation. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)