EU slammed for delay in announcing needed judicial reforms

The delay has irked many officials in Turkey, including top EU negotiator Egemen Bağış, who said the situation has raised concerns in the Turkish capital. It has drawn indignation from leading European Parliament officials as well. “It is not understandable why the EU would waste the chance to be a model,” said Hélène Flautre, a French politician and member of the European Parliament who co-chairs the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee.

Negotiations on Chapter 23 of the acquis communautaire, concerning the judiciary and fundamental rights, aim to maintain and further develop the negotiating country as an area of freedom, security and justice. In addition to the chapter on the judiciary, nine other chapters that Turkey needs to negotiate with the bloc are still awaiting the announcement of the screening results simply because the European Council has not yet acted and approved them. The undue delay in revealing the screening results is extremely problematic as Turkey is about to embark on a major legal overhaul to reform its notorious justice system for the smoother operation of government agencies.

The EU’s screening project on the Turkish judiciary started in September 2006 and was completed a month later. Although Chapter 23, “Judiciary and Fundamental Rights,” has not been officially opened due a Greek Cypriot veto, that veto would not have prevented the European Commission from announcing the results of the screening after they were approved by the council or from conveying them to Turkey once the procedure was completed. The European Commission says it sent the findings to the council, meaning the EU’s member states, for review. It appears, however, that somebody dropped the ball, and the results were left in a drawer.

Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin complains that Turkey is still awaiting the outcome of the EU’s screening of Turkey’s legislative process, required to open the chapter on the judiciary and fundamental rights, which began in 2006

By contrast, the council has approved all of Croatia’s screening results, a candidate country that went through the process at about the same time as Turkey. “We have not been officially notified about the screening results on 10 chapters as they have not yet been approved by the council,” Bağış, state minister and Turkey’s chief EU negotiator, told Today’s Zaman. “Although the necessary work on these chapters is being carried out to meet domestic needs in Turkey, the approach of the council and some EU member states in relation to this matter nonetheless is curbing Turkey’s enthusiasm,” he lamented.

Bağış underlined that in negotiations with the EU, the official start of each chapter begins with the approval of the screening results by the council so that the candidate country is officially made aware of the criteria, if any, they need to meet in order to open the chapter and therefore reorganize its work accordingly. “Unfortunately, on chapters 23 and 24, dealing with ‘judiciary and fundamental rights’ and ‘justice, freedom and security’ respectively, the EU has not officially conveyed the results of the screening despite the screening being completed a long time ago,” he noted.

Turkish Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin also complained on Saturday that Turkey has been awaiting the outcome of the EU’s screening of Turkey’s legislative process, required to open the chapter on the judiciary and fundamental rights, which began in 2006. “Although almost five years have passed, we have not received the results. We need to see those results urgently in order to do what is necessary to open the chapter,” Ergin noted.

Top EU negotiator Bağış also said he is very concerned that the council’s delay is further aggravated by the fact that one member state announced it will block the opening of these two chapters. Although he did not name the country, it was obvious that Bağış was referring to the Greek Cypriot government, which single-handedly has blocked the opening of half of the negotiating chapters with the EU. Nevertheless, Bağış vowed to keep up reforms in Turkey and underlined that Turkey has made some reforms regarding Chapter 23 and that negotiations are under way for the re-admission agreement, which would authorize the repatriation of illegal migrants to their home country via Turkey within the framework of Chapter 24.

European Parliament criticized council

In an op-ed piece published on March 7 in Sunday’s Zaman, Flautre raised this issue and criticized the way the EU handled the screening process regarding the judiciary. “It is not understandable why the EU would waste the chance to be a model, a reference and most importantly, an institutional player in Turkey’s becoming a democratic country governed by the rule of law. I cannot keep myself from asking what the reasons might be for our failure to convey the screening results and our expectations regarding judicial reforms to Turkey, as well as about the ‘disagreement’ between the European Commission and the European Council on the screening results,” she argued.

The screening, officially known as the analytical examination, is the first phase of the negotiations pursued by the commission with a candidate country. It takes around a year and allows candidate countries to familiarize themselves with the acquis, a body of rules and laws governing the EU. It helps the commission as well EU member states to evaluate the degree of preparedness of candidate country prior to negotiations.

Screening is conducted through meetings. There are two kinds of meetings for each chapter: first explanatory meetings with all candidate countries together, and then bilateral meetings with each of the countries separately. In the explanatory sessions, the commission explains the acquis to the candidate countries. Approximately one month after the explanatory meeting, a bilateral meeting (country session) is held with each country individually. During that session, it is the candidate country that explains its degree of preparedness and its plans with regard to the chapter in question.

The commission held explanatory meetings with Turkey in September 2006 and bilateral meetings a month later. Although screening was completed, its results were never communicated to Turkey. By contrast, for example, on Chapter 1, “Free Movement of Goods,” the first explanatory meeting was held in January 2006 and the bilateral meeting a month later. In June 2007, the screening report on this chapter was released to the public, though opening of the chapter was frozen in December 2006 due to political reasons.

“The report is not lost,” Angela Filote, spokeswoman for European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Stefan Füle, told Today’s Zaman when asked about the fate of the report. “The screening reports are published when the EU member states agree on opening benchmarks. We are working on this with our member states,” she said. Filote further noted that the EU’s viewpoint on the need for reforms in this area is well known. “We have included our evaluation in the yearly progress reports, and we are discussing this in our contacts with the Turkish authorities as this is an area of reform that is very important, in the first place, for Turkey and its citizens. We are also discussing these issues with the representatives of civil society in Turkey,” she added.