PRESIDENT Demetris Christofias’ briefing of the National Council earlier this week failed to convince the majority of parties who yesterday accused him of making the institution “obsolete” and of going to New York “unprepared”.
The president came under widespread criticism from all parties bar ruling AKEL, following his three-hour briefing on Friday night on the latest developments on the Cyprus problem.
House Speaker and EDEK leader Yiannakis Omirou yesterday said the failure to keep the National Council properly updated has made the institution virtually “obsolete”.
“We were not enlightened on what exactly will happen in New York… I very much fear there is no strategy to handle this meeting,” he said, referring to the tripartite between UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the two leaders next weekend.
Omirou repeated his gripe about a number of Christofias’ proposals in the talks, including ones on property, a rotating presidency, cross-voting and the continued presence of 50,000 settlers on the island post-reunification.
“He does not have our consent or approval to bind the Cypriot Hellenic people with proposals which violate the democratic principle of the majority and basic human rights like the right regarding immoveable property,” said the EDEK leader.
DIKO leader Marios Garoyian said the National Council meeting did not give anyone hope of positive developments towards a solution.
On Friday, his party repeated its proposal for Christofias to postpone his meeting with Ban and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu next week due to the lack of progress recorded in the talks as well as recent Turkish threats against Cyprus’ exploratory drilling in its exclusive economic zone.
“With disappointment, we found that instead of having a collective consideration of the proposal, it was met by the president and AKEL with disdain, groundless excuses and fake dilemmas,” he said, while opposition DISY adopted a “hermaphroditic stance” on the proposal.
Garoyian questioned when the parties will sit down seriously and prepare a Plan B to counteract Turkey’s own policies.
Speaking on the state broadcaster, DISY’s Tasos Mitsopoulos said things were much worse now than in previous phases of the peace process, noting his party was concerned about the next steps.
The Larnaca deputy accused the president of going to New York without substantial preparation. During the National Council meeting, DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades raised a number of questions on the schedule and content of the tripartite meeting for which Christofias had no answer, said Mitsopoulos.
EVROKO leader Demetris Syllouris said the president did not seem very informed of the New York agenda. He was being dragged through procedures that are not even explained to him and has no choice but to go because “he has been trapped in this process”.
Greens leader Ioanna Panayiotou expressed concern that the climate was more negative than before any other tripartite meeting.
AKEL leader Andros Kyprianou said that every time there was a meeting with the UNSG, various worrying scenarios are thrown about, which never materialised.
Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou acknowledged that the climate in the National Council was not good but also that the Greek Cypriot negotiating team was not going to New York with high hopes.
He rejected criticism that parties were being kept in the dark, saying they are fully aware of the path of the talks and the difficulties faced.
Regarding DIKO’s proposal to postpone the meeting, he said: “When the UNSG invites us, there is no worse message that the Greek Cypriot side could send than to not respond positively to that invite.”
Stefanou called on all parties to support any president who is the leader of the Greek Cypriot community in peace talks, particularly during such developments.
“This support should come from all, regardless of disagreements that exist,” he said.
