Brussels, 20/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - "The Commission will make clear that, as long as such a central element as the reform of the penal code is not adopted, accession negotiations cannot start", the European Commission warned on Monday through the voice of the spokesperson for European Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen. The spokesperson nonetheless took care to make things clear in a press release stating: The date of 6 October was mentioned at the noon briefing to recall that, on that day, the European Commission will give its stance on opening negotiations, without making this a buffer date - which clearly indicates that the Commission reserves itself the possibility of giving a positive opinion while making such an opinion subject to effective opening of negotiations on adoption of the penal code.
As the Turkish Parliament will be in recess until 1 October, the Turkish Parliament will probably not adopt the new penal code before 6 October. Last Thursday evening, the Turkish government suspended the parliament's vote on reform of the code under pressure from members of the majority party (AKP), who insisted that adultery should be considered a crime (EUROPE of 18 September, p.7).
Commissioner Verheugen met Oguz Demiralp, Turkey's Ambassador to the EU, on Saturday to tell him of his concern. Commissioner Verheugen was to discuss the matter on Thursday 23 September with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, invited to Brussels for a visit to the European Parliament.