‘We’ve done all we could ahead of summit’

THE GOVERNMENT has done the best it can for Cyprus in the run-up to Fiday’s European Union summit which decides whether to open accession negotiations with Turkey, government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said yesterday.

“All that had to be done has been done. There will be more contacts in Brussels and the final decision will be taken on December 16-17, provided President Papadopoulos has all the information before him.”

“The government goes to Brussels with a disposition to do everything possible to achieve the best possible outcome,” Chrysostomides said.

The government is seeking recognition from Ankara and argues that Turkey cannot expect a positive vote from Cyprus at the summit without recognising the Republic.

But Turkey insists it should get an unconditional start to membership talks, claiming it has complied with the Copenhagen criteria for membership, which relate to human rights and respect of law and order.

Foreign Ministers from the 25 European Union member states met in Brussels yesterday in an attempt to iron out differences over the wording of the summit conclusions.

“The EU presidency will ask for our observations but it will not allow any effort to rewrite its own draft, since this is a presidency duty,” Foreign Minister George Iacovou said before leaving for Brussels.

He also said that various EU members had been understanding of the positions Cyprus had expressed but stressed that it remained to be seen whether this sympathy would be translated into actual support.

Iacovou said Washington was pushing to get Ankara a date for the start of accession talks with as few conditions as possible.

“However, the US does not participate in our discussions, it is not a member of the European Council where the decisions will be taken,” he added.

President Tassos Papadopoulos leaves for the Brussels summit on Thursday, following visits to several European capitals to explain his position on the issue of membership talks with Turkey.

Papadopoulos has stressed that Nicosia does not object to the start of accession negotiations with Ankara provided that Turkey fulfills its obligations towards the EU and by extension, Cyprus.

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.