CYPRUS has “basically closed” the chapter regarding competition in the EU acquis communautaire and will soon close a part of the agriculture chapter regarding veterinary and phytosanitary measures, Cyprus’ chief EU negotiator George Vassiliou said yesterday after a meeting with Michael Leigh, Director at the Enlargement Directorate General of the European Commission.
“I am in the happy position to announce that the chapter of competition basically closes. In the same way, a half part of the chapter on agriculture concerning veterinary and phytosanitary affairs will close. Only half of the chapter of agriculture remains, as well as economic aspects,” Vassiliou told reporters after the meeting.
“It can be said that Cyprus has successfully concluded the accession negotiations with the EU,” Vassiliou added.
He said Cyprus could look forward to its accession to the EU, especially considering the fact that, until now, the Greek Cypriot side “has done everything right”, in the UN-led peace talks on Cyprus, whereas the Turkish Cypriot side “unfortunately refuses” to negotiate on the basis of the EU and UN positions.
In his statements, Leigh said the purpose of yesterday’s meeting had been to review the progress in the accession negotiations, and expressed the hope that the negotiations would be concluded on time at the end of this year.
“The negotiations are proceeding very well,” Leigh told journalists expressing the conviction that the Commission could keep to the enlargement calendar, “which is a firm commitment by the member states as it has been repeated by each European Council”.
Cyprus opened accession negotiations with the EU in April 1998 and has so far provisionally closed 27 of the 30 chapters under negotiation.
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.
