EU Worried At Delay To Turkey's New Penal Code

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The European Union executive expressed concern after a new penal code in Turkey seen as crucial to the country`s bid to join the EU was left in parliamentary limbo.

The Turkish government unexpectedly withdrew its own parliamentary bill in the face of pressure from radical MPs to introduce a controversial clause restoring adultery as a criminal offence.

"I can only repeat that such provisions (as the adultery clause) would certainly cast doubt on the direction of Turkey`s reform efforts and on its European orientation," European Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori said Friday.

"All I want to say is that the new penal code is of utmost importance in Turkey`s reform process," he said, ahead of a crucial report by the commission on Turkey`s EU entry hopes which is due out on October 6.