Aline Davidian
GREEK PRIME Minister Costas Simitis has said Cyprus-EU negotiations will begin on April 10 next year, Cyprus State radio reported yesterday.
He was speaking in London after talks with his British counterpart Tony Blair.
Cyprus was the only country for whose accession talks the EU had set a definite date, Simitis said. He added that Cyprus met all the Maastricht criteria, had a strong economy, and was well harmonised with EU regulations.
Lengthy negotiations would therefore be unnecessary, he added.
Meanwhile, EU External Affairs Commissioner Hans Van den Broek arrives on the island tomorrow for two days of talks with President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.
He will discuss UN efforts to settle the Cyprus problem with the two leaders, as well as the island’s EU accession talks.
On Tuesday, Van den Broek will join Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides in inaugurating the Cyprus-European Institute which aims to inform the public on EU matters.
The Turkish Daily News reported yesterday that EU membership and its effects on a solution for the island were also raised by UK special envoy to Cyprus, Sir David Hannay, at a seminar organised by the Turkish Embassy in London.
Hannay said the prospect of EU accession was both a risk and an opportunity for Cyprus.
“It is not the end of a search for peace in the island, nor does it provide a perfect environment for a solution,” he is reported as saying.
He said that since the accession process could be lengthy, the two sides may reach a solution before the negotiations end. The accession process would benefit both Turkish-Greek relations and Turkey’s relations with the EU, Sir David said.
On the problem of recognition, he said the international community recognised the Greek Cypriot government as the only legal government.
“The EU is not the place to solve this problem of recognition,” he said.
Earlier in the week, Sir David caused a storm by saying that settlers who had married Turkish Cypriots had become `citizens’ of the `TRNC’, and would stay on after a settlement had been reached.
The government protested, and Government Spokesman Manolis Christofides reaffirmed this stance when he met the envoy in London on Thursday.
