WHY COMMISSION’S 17TH PROGRESS REPORT FOR TURKEY IS DIFFERENT FROM THE PREVIOUS REPORT?
European Commission published 2014 Progress Report for Turkey on 8 October 2014. The latest Report is the 17th Progress Report for Turkey published by the Commission. Together with 80 pages long latest Progress Report, European Commission has published 1786 pages assessing the developments in Turkey for accession to the EU since the first Report in 1998. In other words, European Commission has published Progress Reports for Turkey for more than 6.5 times as Lisbon Treaty when the page length is taken into account.
In 2014, domestic politics of Turkey was occupied by local and Presidential elections while European politics was dominated by elections for European Parliament, European Commission and Commission President, President of the European Council, and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. In international politics, Turkey focused on the issues in Syria, Israel, and Northern Iraq and the EU was in the midst of Russia-Ukraine crisis. Besides such a full agenda on both sides, 2014 Progress Report for Turkey has another distinctive characteristic.
2014 Progress Report for Turkey is the last Progress Report prepared by Commission President José Manuel Barroso and the Cabinet that has been in office for two consecutive terms almost 10 years. Therefore, it is also the last Progress Report prepared by European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle who has been in office since 2009. More importantly, the latest Progress Report will be a point of reference and a guide for the new Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the new European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn for the next 5 years. When Juncker’s statement of “no enlargement for the upcoming 5 years” is taken into account, the latest Report is a significant guideline for Turkey’s accession process regarding EU Enlargement Policy.
As is known, Progress Reports, which are one of the main instruments of EU Enlargement Policy, include points of reference for the European Commission to assess the progress and developments in candidate countries. Considering 2014 Progress Report for Turkey from this perspective, the significance of the Report becomes evident in assessing Turkey’s progress in the time period from October 2013 to September 2014.
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