Vassiliou warns Cyprus must put EU promises into practice

CYPRUS is dragging its feet when it comes to putting its EU harmonisation commitments into practice, the head of Cyprus’s EU accession talks team again warned yesterday.

George Vassiliou said Cyprus was ahead of the pack of candidate countries when it came to closing chapters in the process of harmonisation with the Acquis communautaire, but was not doing so well when in came to implementing these commitments.

"To close chapters in negotiations is one thing, to adopt and implement what you have promised is quite another," the accession talks chief said.

"Cyprus lags behind on the issue of implementation of commitments we have undertaken. That is not to say we are delaying any more than others, but we are noticeably delaying… and for this reason I am worried," Vassiliou said.

"If we do not deal with these delays urgently we will have problems," he warned.

Heeding Vassiliou’s earlier warnings about the need to speed up harmonisation efforts, President Clerides has instructed all his ministers to provide Vassiliou with monthly progress reports.

Vassiliou’s fresh warning came on the sidelines of a meeting between the heads of the accession talks teams of all six candidate countries in Paphos. Chief negotiators from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia will continue and conclude their discussions with Vassiliou today. The meeting is one of a series of similar "get-togethers" organised by the six countries with the aim of helping each other out in their journey towards EU accession.

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.