THE government is working frantically to thwart EU plans to open direct trade with the breakaway Turkish Cypriot regime in the north, hinting at a recourse to the European Court of Justice if the move goes ahead.
The Greek Cypriot side is up in arms following the leaking of a draft package of measures by the European Commission to end Turkish Cypriot isolation in the wake of the community’s ‘yes’ vote for the Annan plan in April. The EU is to decide on the package on July 7.
Under the plan, the EU would open direct trade, which involves the opening up of ports and possibly airports, under Article 133 of the Treaty of Rome, which covers customs duties between the bloc and third “countries and territories”.
The recent Treaty of Nice says such a decision does not need the unanimous approval of the European Council of Minister, just a qualified majority.
In simple terms it means that to pass the measure, the European Commission needs 88 out of 124 votes. Cyprus has two votes under the system, which grants more votes to the bigger countries, while Greece has five.
While political parties were yesterday vociferous on the Commission package, the government was more restrained.
Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said the government would do everything possible to avoid negative consequences from any Commission decision to ensure that this matter would not result in a serious disagreement with the EU.
“The issue of the regulation is not new, it is being discussed for months with the EU as part of efforts to upgrade the Turkish Cypriots, and the government believes that these measures must not consolidate the division of the island,” Chrysostomides said, reiterating the government’s position that any measures should be designed to facilitate reunification and not partition.
Chrysostomides also said that in the event of an unfavourable situation, the government had the right to resort to the European Court of Justice, but added this did not necessarily mean Nicosia would do so.
He did, however, say that international legality should be the sole criteria for any decisions from the EU and that the government believed Europe would not proceed with any measures that were not first agreed with Nicosia.
“What we expect is full agreement with the EU to announce the measures,” he said.
Foreign Minister George Iacovou said that the EU was under pressure from America, which wanted something it could use at the UN to further its own plans to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriots, although he could not say if the leaked draft would be the final text to be put before the Council of Ministers on July 7.
However, he said the Cyprus government had consulted its own independent experts on the legality of the Commission’s move
“The European Commission cannot use an article of the European treaty in order to make arrangements concerning products that emanate from a part of the Cyprus Republic,” he said referring to the fact that the Cyprus government is internationally recognised as the government of the entire island, even though the acquis has been suspended for the north.
Commenting on reports that the Commission disagreed with Nicosia’s stance on the legal aspects, Iacovou said: “For this reason the issue will finally lead to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.
“But the government of Cyprus does not want to find itself in legal confrontations with the EU.”
Adriaan van der Meer, the EU’s Head of Delegation in Cyprus, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday he would not like to comment on leaked documents or on the possibility of Cyprus taking its case to the European Court of Justice, something he referred to as being “part of community life”.
He said the direct trade issue was still very much part of the bloc’s internal deliberations but did not deny the contents of the leaked draft.
“If everything goes well, hopefully on July 7 the Commissioners will come with a proposal to take to the Council of Ministers based on Article 133 on common commercial policy,” he said, adding, however, that the EU would normally try to avoid such a course of action through amicable negotiations.
“We are in a delicate negotiations process internally and this (direct trade) is one of the issues, but we still have a long way to go,” he said.
Van der Meer said the direct trade was part of a package with five aspects: trade, aid, harmonisation, normalisation and free movement of persons.
“This is the whole package on which we are working and of course we have consultation on all these matters but the one on direct trade is obviously the most difficult one,” he said.
“There is confusion and everything is lumped together and mixed together.”
Van der Meer said the other four aspects of the package were moving ahead. He said the proposals for financial aid would also go to the Council on July 7. The government has no objection to this measure.
He also said that the free movement of persons, as provided for under the recent Green Line regulations, was working well without any problems.
One of the remaining aspects is intra-island trade, Van der Meer said.
“We have been working on so-called implementing modalities, setting out details on how this trade should actually go ahead and particularly manufactured goods,” he said, adding that authority would probably be given to the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce to certify products from the north. Provisions for controls and sanitary checks were still in the works, he added.
“We are not sure of the track record in the north regarding veterinary diseases and hygienic rules in terms of animal products,” Van der Meer said.
He said this would be very important in terms of reassuring consumers about products arriving on this side, which he said was the internal market of the EU.
“Of course we can talk about the government-controlled areas but we talk also about EU territory,’ he said. “This is the EU. Everything is done under EU law.”
Van der Meer said that a set of rules for the internal trade was finalised and would probably be adopted next week. “Now it’s just a matter of technical details,” he said.
