Turkish reform plans

• Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül on 10 January presented a plan to overhaul the country’s laws and bring them into line with EU standards. The plan runs to 2013, an indication that Ankara thinks it will not be able to join the EU before then.

Controversial proposals on the regulation of ‘advanced therapies’ - tissue engineering used to build skin, bone and cartilage from human cells - will return to the European Parliament’s environment committee on 22 January.