THE CONSTRUCTION of the new Larnaca airport by French consortium Bouyges is the “largest ever French direct investment in Cyprus”, said French European Minister, Pierre Lellouche, yesterday.
Lellouche, who is in Cyprus to attend today’s opening ceremony of the new airport, said: “Of course, all the merits go to the company itself, but I also think this event bears a particular political meaning.” He referred specifically to the “deepening” bilateral relationship between France and Cyprus in the last ten years.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, the Minister for European Affairs said he was also on the island to develop a “road map” for the creation of a “structured dialogue” between the two countries, as agreed between President Nicolas Sarkozy and President Demetris Christofias during the latter’s recent visit to Paris.
“[The] Franco-Cypriot relationship does not limit itself to one aspect, like trade. We have for instance a very ambitious project to create a Franco-Cypriot lycιe in Nicosia,” said Lellouche.
The lycιe project is currently still at the discussion stages with France and Cyprus, said Catherine Crosnier, Director of the French Cultural Service. “I hope we can make it next year but it may be the year after that. It depends how long we take to discuss pedagogical aspects with the (Cyprus) Ministry of Education,” she added.
Cyprus has traditionally turned to Greece for military support and cooperation but recently signed a military agreement with France in February 2008.
“France has a lot of military cooperation agreements with many countries around the world. In our view, military cooperation is an integral part of any bilateral relationship, and this means that it has to be mutually beneficial,” said Lellouche.
He noted that Cyprus has already committed to contributing to military actions in cooperation with France and other EU partners. “Cyprus shares with France a strong commitment to European Security and Defence Policy and in this context has already undertaken to participate in several ESDP-led missions, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or more recently in the Aden Gulf, in the context of the naval operation ATALANTA to fight piracy.”
Regarding future cooperation in the military field, Lellouche said: “It goes without saying that our bilateral cooperation is a vector of further knowledge sharing and greater inter-operability.”
Other potential areas of cooperation include the fight against terrorism and piracy, taking into account France’s revised military doctrine, which widened the scope of its defence missions. Lellouche highlighted France’s gratitude for Cyprus’ “active and generous assistance” during the evacuation of French nationals from Lebanon in 2006.
Regarding Sarkozy’s recent initiative to create the Union for the Mediterranean, the French minister said France has been a long-time supporter of strengthening ties between the two banks of the Mediterranean Sea. The French leadership hopes that the nascent Union could develop along similar lines to the EU.
Asked to comment on the strength of ties between Cyprus and France, Lellouche said there was a space for convergence between the two countries on a wide range of European and global issues, referring specifically to climate change, European energy security, immigration and European Defence.
“Our bilateral relations with Cyprus have grown steadily over the past decade,” he said. In an appropriate turn of phrase given his presence on the island for the opening of the new airport, Lellouche concluded: “In total, it is an extremely privileged relationship with political, cultural, educational and economic dimensions. And I think it is timely to speak about a true ‘take off’ of our relationship together.”
