At the Industry-specific Economy Council meeting organized by the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) yesterday, Ali Babacan, the deputy prime minister for the economy, made compelling remarks about the government's plans to introduce a comprehensive package to improve transparency, following the March 30 local elections.

Babacan noted that while fighting corruption is one of the main items of the government's agenda, they would be taking further measures to emphasize the significance of transparency and accountability.

"No incident of corruption should be covered up or tolerated," said Babacan. He also underlined that the government puts special emphasis on this matter, which is evident by the fact that a few years ago, Turkey ranked 65th out of 102 countries, with regard to corruption, whereas now it ranks 53rd out of 177.

Referring to the improvement as only a start, Babacan explained that the government will be introducing the new package in an effort to aim for the top.

Stressing the list of actions to be taken to improve the quality of democracy in Turkey, Babacan observed that European Union norms are of crucial importance. "This is why we are constantly working hard to speed up our European Union membership process, were able to open a new chapter in negotiations and aim to open up two new crucial chapters this year," Babacan pointed out, adding that one of these chapters would consist of judicial and fundamental rights, while the other would consist of justice, freedom and security, all of which are of considerable importance for the legal system in Turkey.

Babacan also claimed Turkey takes only the European Union's legal norms as a reference, and no other international organizations or formations. Drawing attention to the significance of political stability, Babacan explained that it takes years to build an atmosphere of trust, whereas it is easily destroyed in a matter of weeks or months.