EU: Turkey lacking political criteria to join EU

The European Commission Wednesday said "concerns are growing regarding Turkey's lack of substantial progress towards fully meeting the political criteria" to become an EU member. The EU's executive body today published its progress report on the aspiration of Turkey and other candidate countries to join the EU. "The situation regarding fundamental rights on the ground remains a serious concern. Full implementation of the obligations under the Customs Union and progress towards normalisation of relations with Cyprus are urgent and could provide new momentum to accession negotiations", noted the report. "The Kurdish issue remains a key challenge for Turkey's democracy; the democratic opening came to a virtual halt," it said. Turkey applied for EU membership in 1987. Accession negotiations started in October 2005. It recommends granting EU candidate status to Albania subject to completion of key reform steps, and proposes negotiating a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Kosovo once it has made progress in fulfilling a number of short term priorities. It also confirmed that Croatia is on track in its EU membership preparations.