THE GOVERNMENT has addressed most of the European Union’s main concerns regarding the island’s accession into the bloc, Harmonisation Co-ordinator Takis Hadjidemetriou said yesterday.
The island was censured last month over its performance in the areas of agriculture and maritime safety and to a lesser degree on the widening fiscal deficit.
The cabinet yesterday examined the island’s harmonisation course and set time schedules concerning various pending issues.
Hadjidemetriou said all issues should be resolved by March 15, 2004 – just over a month before the island’s official accession to the EU.
Hadjidemetriou said the serious deficiencies concerning agriculture and maritime safety have been addressed to a large extent.
The EU said substantial efforts were needed in the area of the farming paying agency and trade mechanisms while it raised serious concerns regarding Cyprus’ flag policy and resources as well as port state control in the maritime sector.
The report listed shortcomings in the adoption of implementing legislation, which remained to be completed for compliance with the acquis communautaire on classification societies, port state control, vessel traffic management information system, port reception facilities, system of mandatory surveys for the safe operation of regular ro-ro ferry and high-speed passenger craft services, marine equipment and fishing vessels.
It also stressed the fact the Cyprus flag was still on the blacklist of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a port state control monitor, which clocks ship detention rates.
Cyprus recently reached the bottom of the black list and hopes to make it into the grey list before accession.
Hadjidemetriou said the percentage of inspections in the island’s ports had reached 27 per cent from four per cent while less ships flying the Cyprus flag were now detained.
“There is an improved image concerning merchant shipping,” Hadjidemetriou said.
According to 2002 statistics under the MOU, the percentage of Cyprus flag vessels detained following Port State Control was 7.4 per cent, a further decrease compared with 8.9 per cent in 2001, and 9.7 per cent in 2000.
Concerning the farming paying agency, Hadjidemetriou said the February 28 deadline looked like it was going to be met with “plenty of work and painstaking effort”.
Agriculture Minister Timis Efthimiou assured that the paying agency would be running by the end of February.
“(The paying agency) is the institutional instrument, which we would use to distribute all the EU funds for farming and the agriculture development plan,” Efthimiou said.
Hadjidemtriou said a large number of the 172 pending bills had already been processed by the legal service while others still needed the ministries’ final suggestions.
