Cyprus withdraws legal appeals against EU aid for north

CYPRUS has withdrawn eight appeals to the European Court of Justice against the EU financial aid package to the Turkish Cypriot side, Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said yesterday.

The cases were filed by Cyprus to the Court of First Instance at the European Court of Justice over the involvement of Turkish Cypriot ‘state’ organs in tenders for projects under the €259 million financial aid package.

Negotiations have been going on with the EU for months to find a compromise formula that would not jeopardise the financial aid package but at the same time would also halt any notion of recognition of the breakaway state in the north.

Had the cases not been withdrawn, they would have endangered the aid package because the tenders would have had to be cancelled.

Stefanou said yesterday the government had decided to withdraw the appeals to facilitate the disbursement of the aid in a way that would not constitute political recognition of the ‘TRNC’.

“The Turkish Cypriot community had been presented as a third country in the invitation for tenders,” Stefanou said.

However, he said the Commission had now amended the text, and it no longer included any reference, which could equate the Turkish Cypriot community as a country.

“The amended text clarifies that in Protocol 10 of the Accession Treaty of 2003 the Turkish occupied areas of Cyprus are referred to as areas of the Republic of Cyprus on which the government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control,” said Stefanou.

He said that as a result, the Attorney-general had recommended that Cyprus withdraw its appeals.

EU officials warned in March that the legal cases could bring down the entire financial aid programme for the north if Nicosia won the Court of Justice battle.

The Turkish Cypriot side would then lose the money because EU money not spent is lost.

The financial aid projects for the north include a waste management project, a feasibility study for the rehabilitation of the Lefka copper mine, financial support for the Committee for Missing Persons, traffic safety management, and demining in the buffer zone.

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