The European Union (EU) criticized Turkey for its actions that keep on distancing it from the bloc and its values. The EU said it sees no reason to unblock the country's EU membership talks.
In a progress report on Turkey's membership prospects released Wednesday, the executive commission criticized "serious backsliding in the areas of the rule of law and fundamental rights," the Associated Press (AP) reported.
“Serious backsliding continued in the Turkish economy, leading to deeper concerns over the functioning of the country’s market economy,” the Commission said in its report.
The EU agreed last year that no new chapters in Turkey's accession talks should be opened or closed and the report notes that "the underlying facts leading to this assessment still hold."
According to AP, Turkey has been involved in membership talks since October 2005 but progress has been extremely slow.
