Legal solutions to economic issues in the European Commission's Turkey report

This thesis analyses Türkiye's challenges in the European Union (EU) accession process with a specific focus on economic and fiscal chapters, drawing primarily on the European Commission's Türkiye Reports. The study departs from the observation that the slowdown of the accession trajectory is frequently explained through political criteria, while economic and financial alignment remains a core requirement in the context of the Copenhagen and Maastricht frameworks. Accordingly, the thesis adopts the assumption that economic alignment should be examined not only through macroeconomic indicators but also through the quality of legal regulations, institutional capacity, and the effectiveness of implementation and oversight mechanisms. A qualitative design is employed. The European Commission's 2021–2024 Türkiye Reports constitute the principal data source, and the assessments in these reports are examined together with the relevant EU acquis and Türkiye's legal-institutional arrangements. By relying on comparative and analytical reading, the research identifies areas of alignment and misalignment, and it makes visible the relationship between economic performance discussions and the underlying legal-institutional framework. The analytical core of the thesis covers economic and monetary policy, taxation, social policy and employment, enterprise and industrial policy, financial and budgetary provisions, free movement of goods and capital, financial services, statistics, and financial control. The thesis argues that recurring criticisms in the reports are often linked less to the absence of legal norms than to "implementation gaps" and limited supervisory capacity. Building on these findings, the study develops legal solution proposals centered on legislation, institutional coordination, transparency, and accountability.