IN THE END, Turkey will go through the eagerly-anticipated European Council ‘unscathed’, despite the local calls for punitive measures. There will be no sanctions, no deadline for the implementation of the Ankara protocol and no freezing of the accession chapter on the environment which is set to be opened on December 21.
The Cyprus government has, however, retained its right to veto the opening and closing of six chapters, if certain political conditions are not satisfied, even though initial drafts prepared by the presidency had tried to exclude this option. On a more theoretical level, Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou also managed to change the wording regarding Turkey’s contribution to the peace talks. The initial draft called on Turkey to “create a positive climate” for a solution whereas the final document called on her to contribute to a solution.
Kyprianou did very well under the circumstances, defending the national interests without insisting on any punitive measures that would have prevented the taking of a unanimous decision by the Council of General Affairs.
Sanctions, which was the demand of the hardline faction in Nicosia, were never a real option as they were opposed by the overwhelming majority of the member states and not just by a couple of states, as certain reports misleadingly suggested.
Even if Kyprianou held out for sanctions and refused to back the decision of the foreign ministers, the matter would have been referred to today’s European Council at which the leaders would have imposed their wishes on President Christofias. The big mistake was that the government had raised the stakes because of the pressure it had been put under by the hardline parties. Christofias had ruled out the possibility of exercising a veto several months ago, but changed tune when the demagogues of DIKO, EDEK and EUROKO, backed by a section of the media, made the imposition of sanctions a national duty.
For these parties, the punishment of Turkey was an end in itself, as they are not too keen on the success of the peace talks. But for the parties which support a settlement like AKEL and DISY, it would have been absurd to impose sanctions on Turkey while peace talks were in progress and the government believes that Ankara should be more flexible. What chance would there have been of that happening once sanctions had been imposed? The EU certainly did not subscribe to the view that sanctions would have assisted the peace talks.
Kyprianou was correct in setting conditions for the discussion of accession chapters that are not due for examination before March – the environment chapter will open this month – as by then it would be clear if there is a settlement on the horizon. This tactic was dismissed as a sign of weakness by the sanctions supporters, but they never were able to see the bigger picture.s, but they never were able to see the bigger picture.
