THE REGULATION for direct trade between the EU and the occupied north is a political action without any financial basis, as exports from the north reach a mere eight million euro annually, President Tassos Papadopoulos said yesterday.
Talking from Larnaca Airport as he returned from Berlin, where he had participated in the celebrations for 50 years since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, Papadopoulos said he had transferred these views to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Questioned over the Ledra Street checkpoint, Papadopoulos expressed the hope that the Turkish army will agree on the securing of the area between the two checkpoints.
During his meetings in Berlin, Papadopoulos said he told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the regulation for direct trade did not correctly reflect the decision taken at the EU Council of Ministers on 24 April 2004 relating to the issue.
He told Blair the regulation did not have the correct legal basis and included mistaken provisions which did not correspond to the objectives set out by the EU.
These were to lift the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots with a view to creating economic integration and the reunification of Cyprus, Papadopoulos said.
“Measures which promote dividing trends or perpetuate them, surely do not promote the aim of the regulation,” he added. “The fact that for two and a half years now the regulation has not been approved shows that our views are gradually gaining ground.”
Other than that Papadopoulos said he found his meeting with Blair useful.
“We pursue the restoration of our relations with Britain and an improvement of our bilateral relations and our relations within the EU,” he said.
Blair assured him that he had “every good will” to help in resuming talks on the basis of the July 8 agreement that everyone hopes will open the road for substantive negotiations.
Criticising Turkey, Papadopoulos said it was unfair that Ankara tried to block Cyprus` participation in international organisations at every turn while expecting Nicosia to show goodwill when it comes to Turkey’s EU accession.
As for the July 8 agreement and reunification, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said the Turkish Cypriot side is ready to engage in negotiations at the highest level and had reiterated this at every opportunity.
Reminding that the Turkish Cypriot Side had proposed a list of substantial issues that would be discussed once the ten working groups and technical committees were established within the framework of the 8th July process, he said that they did not want any more delays in this process.
Asked his views regarding the direct trade regulation during his last visit to Brussels, Talat expressed the hope that the EU will implement the regulation, but noted that “the Papadopoulos administration will do everything in its power to prevent this from happening.”
He concluded by stating that the Turkish Cypriot Side is always ready and willing to meet with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon with the aim of finding a comprehensive and lasting solution to the Cyprus problem.
