Type: Acts of the European Union: Resolutions of the European Parliament

Authority: European Authorities - European Union: European Parliament

Date: 04/14/2016

Subject: The European Parliament is deeply concerned, in the light of the backsliding on respect for democracy and rule of law inside Turkey, that the overall pace of reforms in Turkey has slowed down considerably in recent years, and that in certain key areas, such as the independence of the judiciary, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, and respect for human rights and the rule of law, there has been a regression moving increasingly away from meeting the Copenhagen criteria to which candidate countries must adhere. The European Parliament underlines that Turkey is a key strategic partner for the EU and that active and credible negotiations would provide a suitable framework for exploiting the full potential of EU-Turkey relations; takes note of the reinvigoration of the negotiation process by the EU and hopes that the opening of chapters will lead to concrete progress; calls, in this connection, for concrete progress and a genuine commitment on Turkey’s part; reiterates its call on the Commission to reassess the way in which negotiations have been conducted so far and how EU-Turkey relations and cooperation could be improved and intensified; strongly supports a structured, more frequent and open high-level political dialogue on key thematic issues of joint interest such as migration, counter-terrorism, energy, economy and trade

Classification: Freedoms - Art. 11 Freedom of expression - Art. 12 Freedom of assembly - Justice

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