Memo: Key findings of the 2014 progress report on Turkey

The European Commission's 2014 Progress Report on Turkey highlighted a number of important steps taken by Turkey over the past 12 months. These steps included: the adoption of law implementing a democratisation package and the Action Plan for the Prevention of Violations of the European Convention on Human Rights, the signature and the entry into force of the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement and the simultaneous launch of the visa dialogue, as well as the continuation of the process aiming for a settlement of the Kurdish issue.

At the same time, the report emphasised a number of concerns. These concerns related to the adoption of the legislation undermining the independence of the judiciary, massive reassignments and dismissal of judges and prosecutors and even detention of a high number of police officers, as well as blanket bans imposed on social media. The report welcomed that several of these decisions had been overturned by the Constitutional Court. The tendency to pass laws and decisions, including on fundamental issues for the Turkish democracy, in haste and without sufficient consultations of stakeholders was a matter of concern as well. All this stressed the need to engage in an effective dialogue, both within the country and with the EU to ensure that further reforms in the area of the rule of law and fundamental freedoms followed European standards.

Blog: LSE EuroppBlog, 11.10.14: Can Karahasan on Turkey: Economic development is hampered by political tensions http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2014/10/11/experts-react-eu-progress-reports-2014/#Eight

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