EU/TURKEY : ANKARA CLAIMS PROGRESS IN EU BID.

• Position: European Union - Brief article

In a sign of anger and frustration over his country's largely stalled EU accession process, Turkey's chief negotiator and Minister for the European Union Affairs, Egemen Bagis, has published for the first time a progress report on his own. With its 270-page presentation of the reforms undertaken by the Turkish government between October 2011 and December 2012 - but allegedly overlooked or distorted by the European Commission in its annual report - Ankara also aims to put additional pressure on the Irish EU Presidency. Turkey wants to see at least one negotiating chapter opened in the coming months.

In his presentation, on 31 December 2012, Bagis emphasised the scope of the so-called third judicial reform package in Turkey and lauded reforms like Law No 6,356 on trade unions or the labour agreements adopted on 18 October. The latter were not taken fully into account in the Commission's report that was released earlier in October. The Commission noted only 'limited progress" in the areas of judicial reform, social...