No preconditions for accession talks

CLAIMS by Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini that a Cyprus solution is a precondition for the start of the island’s European Union accession talks were yesterday dismissed by Greece and Britain.

Speaking at the EU council in Brussels, where Dini’s statements had been made earlier, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said “no such precondition” existed.

Greek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, meanwhile, warned the Italian minister to take more care with the content of his statements.

Dini later backtracked, telling the press there are no preconditions for the beginning of Cyprus’ EU accession talks.

The council also decided in favour of continuing contacts with Ankara to try and persuade Turkey to participate in the March 12 EU conference, on the basis of the Luxembourg conclusions.

These state that participants must share a commitment to peace, security, neighbourliness and EU founding principles.

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.