Brussels, 29/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - In its 2015 progress report on Turkey, the European Commission will criticise a step backwards in the country as regards respect for the rule of law, freedom of expression and judicial independence, according to news agency Reuters, which has seen a copy of the draft report.
“The outgoing government has made efforts to reinvigorate the EU accession process”, the draft report states. “However, this commitment was offset by the adoption of key legislation in the area of the rule of law, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly that ran against European standards”, it adds. According to the report cited by Reuters, the independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers have been “considerably” undermined, and judges and prosecutors have been under strong political pressure.
The progress reports on EU accession candidate countries are usually published in mid-October, but it would seem that for 2015 the Commission is waiting for the parliamentary elections to be held in Turkey - the first round of which is on Sunday 1 November. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)