Time is ripe for a Cyprus solution, Commission says

PRESIDENT of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said yesterday the time was ripe to end the division of Cyprus, and pledged the commission’s full support to the ongoing negotiations.

In a statement issued after a meeting of the Cyprus Steering Group yesterday, which assessed the situation in Cyprus, Barroso assured that the Commission was ready to provide full support for efforts to reach agreement on EU related issues.

The Group assessed the situation in the ongoing talks following the recent meeting of the UN Secretary General with the leaders of the two communities and his report on the Good Offices Mission presented to the UN Security Council on November 30.

The Group said it ”shared the concern expressed by the Secretary General that the window of opportunity to reach a settlement is rapidly closing” and ”expressed full support for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s efforts to accelerate the Cyprus settlement process and bring it to a successful end.”

After the meeting, Barroso said ”the European Commission stands firmly behind the UN Secretary General’s efforts.”

”I encourage the leaders of the two communities to respond positively to the UN Secretary-General’s call and to reach a comprehensive solution to the Cyprus issue soon. The Commission is ready to provide full support for efforts to reach agreement on EU related issues, and to strengthen confidence among the two communities. The time is ripe to end the division in Cyprus,” he added.

The Cyprus Steering Group was established by Barroso in January 2009 as a means of the European Commission to support the settlement talks and coordinate positions on EU related aspects of a settlement.

In this context, in October 2009, Barroso appointed Leopold Maurer as his personal representative to the Good Offices mission of the UN in Cyprus.

 


 


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.