DIFFERENCES between EU member states on their response to Turkey’s statement that it does not recognise Cyprus have been narrowed, according to a European diplomat, despite the fact that agreement on the counter-declaration was not reached in yesterday’s meeting of permanent representatives (COREPER).
The meeting took place in a much better climate than had been expected and progress has been made, according to a number of sources who spoke to the Mail.
The ambassadors discussed a proposal submitted by the British Presidency, the fourth such draft, and quite a number of member states expressed their views on the two key issues: securing the implementation of the Protocol by which Turkey extends its customs union to all member states, and recognition of the Republic of Cyprus.
Britain is now expected to come up with a new draft, maybe as early as today, and if this is the case then an extraordinary COREPER meeting will be called. Otherwise, it will be discussed next Wednesday.
Speaking to the Mail, a European diplomat pointed out that all member states and the Commission wanted to make sure Turkey implemented the Protocol, which would mean the opening of its ports and airports to Cyprus, but at the same time some countries didn’t want to use harsher language than they had used for other states. What remains is determining the exact language, he said.
According to another source, one solution would be to include a reference to a mechanism monitoring and assessing the situation in 2006, but with no mention of measures against Turkey or a timeframe, as Nicosia had been hoping for.
On the issue of recognition, there appears to be a proposal whereby it would not be attached to Turkey’s accession, which had angered Nicosia, but to the accession talks beginning on October 3. The Cyprus government was hoping to convince its partners for recognition before accession talks begin with Turkey or a within a concrete timeframe.
One source said there was sympathy towards Cyprus on this issue, while, according to a European diplomat, differences with Nicosia are not enormous. He noted that, as was said at the meeting, this was the first time the word “recognition” came up in an EU document regarding Turkey.
Yesterday’s meeting, a source said, was rather intense but turned out to be fruitful. Even so, diplomats in Brussels did not want to give details on the discussion and proposals submitted, as they believed negotiations were now at a very delicate phase.
However, the Mail learned that the Cypriot ambassador expressed his regret with the fact that the British Presidency and France, two big countries, agreed on some of the most important references, including recognition, without involving Nicosia in their discussion. A source said many of the small states sympathised with Cyprus on this issue.
British sources reject these claims, recalling that there were bilateral talks between the two countries in Brussels, in London and Nicosia, even at a Foreign Ministers’ level.
Yesterday’s developments, according to some sources, is also a result of the discussion that President Tassos Papadopoulos and Greek Premier Costas Karamanlis had in New York on Tuesday, during which the situation was assessed.
The Framework of the Negotiations with Turkey was also discussed in COREPER, but the ambassadors did not go into detail.
One source said Cyprus’ permanent representative told his colleagues that if they did not address Nicosia’s concerns in the counter-declaration he would raise them during the discussion on Turkey’s Framework of Negotiations, which has to be approved before talks begin.
For its part, Austria raised its demand that a reference to the possibility of a “privileged partnership” be added to the Commission’s proposal, which was not supported. On the contrary, some countries, including Greece, Holland and Italy expressed disagreement.
France, where Turkey’s accession has also created much discussion, is said to have proposed reinforcing the reference to the EU’s capacity to accept new member states, already in the proposal, a position also held by Slovenia.
Despite the fact that both the counter-declaration and the Framework are pending, the majority of ambassadors who spoke said they should come to an agreement without calling an extraordinary Foreign Ministers council in Brussels.
