EU process provides ideal framework for solution

CYPRUS’ EU accession process provides the ideal framework for a settlement, even though a solution cannot be a prerequisite for membership, Greek deputy Foreign Minister George Papandreou said yesterday.

Speaking after a morning meeting with President Glafcos Clerides, Papandreou said the accession course “clearly lays down the conditions to reach a solution of the Cyprus problem”.

He said the message to Turkey was clear: neither they nor any other power could halt Cyprus’ accession procedure, and Cyprus would not stop it itself for any reason.

Cyprus’ chances of accession were still strong, Papandreou said, in spite of the problems which he admitted occurred from time to time.

He added that the Turkish Cypriots could still be involved in the accession process, drawing attention to President Clerides’ offer that they could elect their own representative to attend accession talks.

“The choice is theirs. Either they join in this process at the negotiating table or they stay out of it. We hope that they take the first option,” he said.

The prospect of the island’s EU accession, Papandreou went on, would have a knock-on effect in the region, introducing fundamental EU principles of democracy and freedom of movement. It was these principles that could form the basis for a Cyprus solution, he concluded.

Papandreou later met with Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides, after which he warned that if Turkey could not accept Cyprus’ EU accession, this would cause further problems with its own already rocky accession course.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.