Turkey’s EU accession progress report for 2010 is put on a vote today at the European Parliament. The main topics of the debate are the issues between Turkey, Cyprus and Greece and the worries about Turkey undermining freedom of press. MPs from all political groups are very critical over the slow progress of Turkey, but had different political views in regard to support expectations for membership. Most groups welcomed the idea of starting a dialogue with Turkey about visas to ease the mobility of students and businessmen, however, in assessing country’s readiness for EU accession, the political groups of the EPP, the European United Left and the NLD appeared particularly critical.

According to the draft resolution, the European Parliament rapporteur Ria Oomen-Ruijten (EPP, Netherlands) will call once again on Turkey to implement the Ankara Protocol in order to advance the accession negotiations.