E.U. COMMISSIONER for Regional Policy and Institutional Reform, Michel Barnier, yesterday wrapped up his two-day visit to the island urging Greek and Turkish Cypriots to see the Cyprus issue in the wider context of the EU.
Foreign Minster George Iacovou, speaking after his meeting with Barnier, said that during his talks with President Tassos Papadopoulos, the Commissioner had wished the island could join as a reunited country, which would enjoy the benefits and support of EU policies.
No statements were made after Barnier’s meeting with House President Demetris Christofias, but according to the Cyprus News Agency, (CNA) Barnier told Christofias that his main message was that Cyprus’ accession would be to the benefit of both communities.
The Commissioner pressed home his message even more strongly in the north on Thursday, when he met Turkish Cypriot political party representatives.
Speaking through an interpreter at a dinner in Kyrenia, Barnier said he had heard some very strongly opposed views and that “the main argument was around the lack of confidence they (Turkish Cypriots) felt for the Annan plan, in terms of guaranteeing security and in terms of political fairness as they see it.”
“My simple answer was in very plain terms that this plan actually exists and it has been agreed by most entities as the basis on which we have to build.
“We also made very plain that joining the EU is not just joining any intergovernmental organisation. It is not just joining into a free trade area. It is joining a genuine political community. It’s not just a talking shop, it’s about integrating policies, it’s about for example everyone signing up to the same currency in the non-too distant future.
“It is also about finding new political structures and to meet the new challenges in terms of creating solidarity and that is exactly what we are trying to do with the new Constitution,” Barnier said.
“We need to open up new perspectives and to see the issues of this island in much wider perspective of Europe as a whole and not just on a purely local basis. Not to have the two communities facing each other off in a local context but rather to see that they are part of a much wider perspective.
“My main message is to see things from a new perspective and that requires a personal change, a wider cultural change.”
He cited the example of the April 23 opening of the checkpoints: it was “a question of opening a new door and being willing to go through that new door”.
During his contacts on the island, Barnier also brought up the issue of EU funding and said he mentioned in particular the possibility of setting up a specific instrument for protecting the coastline of the island, both of the occupied and government-controlled areas.
“A very important asset of the island is its environmental heritage and in particular the coastline, and that will be the keystone when it comes to further developing its tourism,” he said.
“We need to keep urban development under control. Of course that’s not a matter of Brussels. It’s for Cyprus itself. One possibility would be promoting exchanges of experience of this kind and the other possibility is making funding available from the structural funds for that purpose.” He also stressed the need to protect areas of particular natural importance.
