NEGOTIATIONS for Cyprus to join the European Union will finish in June, Brussels and Nicosia announced yesterday.
Chief Negotiator for Cyprus George Vassiliou and European Union Negotiator for Cyprus Leopold Maurer said yesterday that the five remaining chapters, out of 29, should be shut with the end of the Spanish Presidency in June – just over four years since they began in March 1998.
“We’re at a very good stage having implemented many laws and we’re very optimistic that everything can be finalised up to June,” said Maurer, speaking to the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce (KEVE) yesterday.
“We’re clearly at the end of the road and in practice there are really only three chapters left. The budget is not for negotiation and the tax reform bill should take care of taxation,” said Vassiliou, making a late entrance after the National Council meeting.
“Our various departments and ministries are working effectively. It’s a huge task but we’re confident. I think we all know how to swim, what we must do is swim well and efficiently,” he added.
Yesterday’s meeting with KEVE took place at the end of Maurer’s most recent visit to the island, accompanied by his largest ever team of 25 experts, to oversee the work still to be done and the implementation of legislation already approved.
The remaining chapters still to be closed are taxation, competition, regional policy and agriculture.
Maurer said there are “many technical problems” over agriculture, described the budget as possibly the most disputed, but said Brussels is optimistic that the government’s unveiled tax reform package will solve the tax issue.
But he said the European Commission would never accept Cyprus’s request for a transition period until 2011 to fully harmonise the country’s lucrative international businesses.
If everything goes according to plan the accession treaty will be drawn up during the Danish Presidency before December 2002.
The only issue remaining on the table after June will be the budget and Maurer said any outstanding problems would be solved by “autumn at the latest” when Brussels submits their final assessment of the island’s readiness to join.
The European Council will draw up the accession treaty in Copenhagen, before another final assessment and a vote in the European Parliament.
All member states must decide to admit Cyprus.
Bureaucrats hope the treaty will be signed in March 2003 then ratified by each member state before the treaty can come into force at the end of the year.
Cyprus should then be eligible to elect her first European MPs in June 2004.
Eight top European Union officials including Maurer answered questions from Cypriot businessmen, organised by KEVE.
The majority of questions expressed concerns about adopting new legislation, suffering from heightened competition and the abolition of state subsidies.
Experts advised businesses to start restructuring their companies as soon as possible.
“To be fair and frank the Competition Commission works properly and fairly. We don’t have to worry about being a small country, if anything the bias is in favour of the small and the weak,” said Vassiliou in an effort to reassure.
“We’re convinced the majority of companies will benefit,” said Maurer when asked which sectors will fare less well.
Commerce Minister Nicos Rolandis also spoke of the flexibility and dynamism with which Cyprus will enter the vast market of 450 million consumers.
“Quality will become one of the pillars of our production, so will safety and competition,” he said, head of a ministry saddled with almost 25 per cent of the harmonisation process.
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.
