Bent ones aren’t European

ONLY straight cucumbers qualify for ‘admission’ to the European Union, at least according to one newspaper report yesterday.

The Council of Ministers decided at its last meeting on Friday to set a number of criteria regarding the export of goods to the Union in order to harmonise Cypriot policies with the acquis communautaire, Alithia reported.

One of those criteria provides that a cucumber classified as ‘extra’ or ‘1’ must be straight if it is to be exported to any European Union member state.

The height of the curve in the vegetable cannot exceed 10 per cent of the cucumber’s total length. EU candidate cucumbers also need to be well-developed, well-shaped and without any flaws, with experts blaming any shape defects on poor seed development.

Cucumbers are not the only Cypriot produce that will have to meet certain standards if they are to compete in Europe. The Council of Ministers has in its possession a 100-page brief setting out the specifications that different fruits and vegetables must comply with if they are to be welcomed into the European fold.

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.