EU vraagt Turkije meer werk te maken van mensenrechten, EU-onderhandelingen met Macedonië en Kroatië soepel begonnen (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU gave Turkey a thumbs up on the economy and a thumbs down on politics in its annual enlargement report on Wednesday (9 November), while promising Macedonia candidate status.

"Turkey can be regarded as a functioning market economy," the commission stated.

The nine golden words mean Turkey is ready to compete in European markets and augurs investment growth in the EU candidate state, which saw GDP jump up by 9 percent last year.

But the study raised worries over a laundry list of human rights abuses, citing the sensitive Ocalan and Pamuk cases by name.

The list includes: torture, freedom of expression, religious freedom, women's rights and trade union rights as well as a call to establish democratic control over Turkey's powerful military and to ensure full judicial independence.

Enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn i indicated the political criteria are "non-negotiable" for Turkish EU entry, which is expected to come no sooner than 2015.

"It was enough to sufficiently fullfil the political criteria to open talks [on 3 October] but criteria have to be met fully to become a member of the EU," Mr Rehn stressed.

"The pace of reforms has slowed in 2005," he added.

The European court of human rights in Strasbourg ruled in May that Turkeys' trial of Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan was unfair.

And prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk is currently awaiting a trial in December for daring to raise the question of the Armenian genocide in a recent media interview.

God is in the detail

The commission's statement that Turkey has "sufficiently" fulfilled criteria stands in contrast to the more positive statement on Wednesday about Croatia, which was also covered in a separate report on the same day.

The Croatian study said Zagreb "meets the polticial criteria" despite not having handed over war crimes suspect Ante Gotovina to the UN.

The Turkey paper also mentions that the Strasbourg courts ruled the country has violated the European human rights convention in 120 cases since October 2004, while 1,812 new complaints were forwarded in the same period.

"Reports of mistreatment outside detention centres are still common," the study says, adding "the situation in Turkey's mental health facilities should be urgently examined."

Brussels underlines in its study that implementation of article 301 of Ankara's new penal code, covering insults to state symbols, "will be closely monitored."

European Parliament foreign affairs committee chief Elmar Brok welcomed the study in an early reaction.

"The commission has apparently realised how important it is that Turkey actually implements the promised reforms instead of just announcing them on paper," the conservative German MEP said.

Macedonia to be an EU candidate

Mr Rehn further announced that Macedonia will shortly gain official EU candidate status.

Macedonia is a "European success story" the commissioner stated. "In 2001 the country was at the brink of civil war and now in 2005 it is seriously knocking on the EU's door."

Mr Rehn, who will travel to Skopje on Thursday, explained that Greek objections to FYROM's use of "Macedonia" (also the name of a Greek region) is a bilateral affair that will not affect FYROM's accession process.

The report on Macedonia said work remains to be done on judicial and border control standards, however.