EU funded Turkish Cypriot projects ‘must promote reunification’

Any projects funded by the EU that support the Turkish Cypriot community in Cyprus should aim at serving the goal of reunification and bringing the two communities closer, a top EU official was told on Wednesday.

The director-general of the European Commission Structural Reform Support Service Maarten Verwey was on the island for meetings with government officials who passed on the message. He was also received by President Nicos Anastasiades.

Verwey was briefed on prospects for a resumption of talks and more enhanced EU involvement. He had meetings with Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides, Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides and Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis.
According to CNA information, Christodoulides and Verwey also reviewed the implementation of the EU’s Green Line Regulation, that facilitates trade in certain commodities across the divide.

Verwey’s visit also included meetings with the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Cyprus Elizabeth Spehar and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

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.