A committee from the European Parliment adopted the own-initiative on Turkey's progress towards accession. MEPs remained committed to accession as the goal of EU negotiations with Turkey, but said that both in Turkey and in the EU important reforms were needed in order to achieve this outcome.

The report welcomed the start of the accession negotiations with Turkey, but expressed regret that the reform process in Turkey had slowed down over the last year. It went on to look at the current situation with regard to democracy and the rule of law, human rights and the protection of minorities, and regional issues and external relations.

The committee noted "persistent shortcomings" in the following areas and urged Turkey to "reinvigorate" the reform process.

• Freedom of expression.
• Religious and minority rights.
• The role of the military.
• Policing.
• Women's rights.
• Trade union rights.
• Cultural rights.

The report recognised the improvements in legislation resulting from the Turkish Government's efforts since 2002 as regards the policy of zero tolerance towards torture, but stressed that more effective implementing measures were needed. It also noted that certain progress had been made in the area of women's rights following the introduction of the new Penal Code, but said that further efforts were needed to eradicate discriminatory practices and violence against women.

Other issues included:
The committee called on Turkey to recognise the Armenian genocide as a precondition for accession. And it called for a lowering of the threshold of ten percent of the votes below which political parties cannot enter the Turkish parliament. MEPs also repeated that negotiations do not lead automatically to accession and said that whether or not negotiations are successfully concluded, Turkey must remain "fully anchored in European structures."

The European Parliament resolution was adopted, by 429 votes in favour to 71 against with 125 abstentions on Turkey's progress towards accession.