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Polarized Parliament slow to push for EU reforms
In fact, lawmakers were able to pass only one piece of reform legislation -- the one hastily passed at a midnight session in June to allow civilian courts to try military officers for certain offenses. The government has lost much of its enthusiasm for the EU in the past couple of years, amid rising opposition from countries such as France and Germany to Turkey’s eventual accession. But experts say the slowdown in reforms is also due to opposition parties, which oppose EU membership reforms. Many of the proposed reforms require changes to the Constitution not possible without support from opposition parties.
The government pledged after the 2007 elections to pass major reforms to bring Turkish laws in line with EU standards. The promises included judicial reform, in which the structure of the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) and the Constitutional Court would be changed.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday following a ministerial meeting to review the reform efforts, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the government wanted Parliament to spend one day a week or one week a month exclusively on EU reforms.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) had successfully pushed for reforms after 2003 with the support of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), but this alliance collapsed in 2007 when tensions between the two parties peaked over the presidential election in 2007. The CHP opposed the election of an AK Party member as president, saying this would undermine the secular nature of the state. Then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül was eventually elected to the top post. But since then, the AK Party has received no backing from the main opposition party for its efforts to push for EU reforms.
The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an opponent of EU membership, managed to secure seats in Parliament following the July 22, 2007 elections after a period of absence in Parliament between 2002 and 2007, another factor obstructing reform efforts over the past two years. In its latest convention, held on Nov. 8, the MHP formally announced that it is against EU membership and that Turkey should shift its foreign policy toward the East.
The Constitutional Court has also complicated the reform efforts. In a June 2008 ruling abolishing a law allowing female students to wear headscarves in universities, the Constitutional Court effectively violated a constitutional principle which bars the court from assessing the content of laws passed by Parliament, stipulating that the court is authorized to assess laws only on procedural grounds. The government fears that an unpopular EU reform law might easily be annulled by the Constitutional Court if it is taken to the court by opposition parties.
On Saturday, Davutoğlu also said the government might return to its old practice of sending reform laws to Parliament as a package, instead of asking lawmakers to vote on them one by one. But given the opposition’s unchanged stance, it is hard to tell whether this new method could actually break the deadlock.
The government now plans to send proposed reforms to Parliament that would create a human rights board, composed of representatives of NGOs and rights groups. It also wants Parliament to pass laws establishing an anti-discrimination board and an independent body that will deal with complaints on the conduct of the security personnel. The government believes 2010 is a key year to focus on EU reforms, given the fact that elections are due in 2011.
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