Lyssarides ‘willing to undertake EU mission’

SOCIALIST Edek leader Vassos Lyssarides said yesterday he was prepared to undertake any mission to promote Cyprus’ EU accession course.

Lyssarides, who recently quit the government coalition over President Glafcos Clerides’ decision not to deploy the S-300 missiles, was speaking after a meeting with Clerides about EU accession.

He said that thoughts as to what he could do were under consideration and that the president could also approach other party leaders in this way.

His contribution would be a matter of making use of his contacts, Lyssarides said, adding he had told Clerides all about the contacts he had held at the recent European Socialist Convention in Vienna.

“I always was and am at the government’s disposal to be used for the good of the national issue and issues relating to the national issue,” he vowed.

Asked about the recent débâcle surrounding the visit to Cyprus of British representative Sir David Hannay, Lyssarides said that after Hannay’s statements, he expected some clarification from Britain as to its exact position on Cyprus. A confederal solution, to which Hannay alluded, was something which could never happen, Lyssarides added.

Asked about Hannay’s future as Britain’s Cyprus representative, Lyssarides said he hoped it would be “short”.

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.