Irish Premier in Cyprus for lightning visit ahead of EU summit

EU Council President and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern is arriving in Cyprus today for a quick chat and a cup of tea before leaving again on his whistle stop tour of the 24 countries of the enlarged EU.

The Irish PM is visiting the heads of all EU member states in the run-up to the European Summit this June, where the EU draft constitution and long-term budget will feature high on the agenda.

Ahern completed the first phase of his tour last week, making short stops in the Scandinavian and Baltic states.

This week, the Taoiseach (PM) will travel to Nicosia, Athens, Malta, Rome and Madrid before commencing the third stage of his tour.

As man-in-charge of the European Council, Ahern is expected to try and find a common platform between member states on major issues like the EU draft constitution and the next multi-annual budget.

Given the bloc’s recent expansion, the need to reshape and consolidate the body of rules that govern the EU is more pressing than ever. And the richer nations’ commitment to the poorer new states will also become clearer on agreement of the next long-term budget, depending on how much they are willing to spend to integrate central and eastern Europe.

Consensus on these issues will prove decisive for the future of the new and improved bloc and will put to the test the differing interests of the various member states.

Ahern is scheduled to meet President Tassos Papadopoulos at 8pm tonight. After a brief press conference at 9.30pm, the Irish PM will rush off for his next stopover.
The talks will focus on the agenda for the June European Summit. According to acting government spokesman Marios Karoyan the two leaders will discuss “issues related to the intergovernmental conference, and the daily agenda of the 25 leaders”.

Asked if Papadopoulos would bring up the Cyprus problem, Karoyan said the two would mainly discuss matters of the European Council, but “unavoidably there will be a discussion of the Cyprus problem”.

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.