European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday that the EU respects the top court's decision regarding the case filed to ban Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.

Turkey's chief prosecutor filed a lawsuit last month asking the Constitutional Court to close down the AK Party.

"I hope the decision of the Constitutional Court would be a decision compatible with the rule of law, European standards, with jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights," Barroso told a joint press conference after his meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara.

Barroso reaffirmed that Turkey's membership to EU was both Turkey's and EU's goal. He said EU wanted to encourage Turkey to continue reforms, and European perspective would be a driving force for Turkey.

He also said a possible amendment to Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code would bring benefits for Turkish people.

The point was to preserve acceleration of reform process in Turkey, and "there is a lot to do," Barroso said.

Following his meeting with Prime Minister Erdogan, Barroso headed to Turkish Parliament and met separately with opposition Nationalist Movement Party Chairman Devlet Bahceli and Democratic Society Party Parliamentary Group Chairman Ahmet Turk.