National Council meets

The National Council met for two hours yesterday afternoon during which President Demetris Christofias briefed the party leaders on his meeting with Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.Government Spokesman Mr Stefanos Stefanou, speaking to the press after the meeting, said the meeting would continue on Friday to allow members to express their views and make assessments.

The National Council meeting was attended by former Presidents of the Republic Messers Tassos Papadopoulos and George Vassiliou and political party representatives. Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou, Presidential Commissioner Yiorgos Iacovou, Government Spokesman Stefanos Stefanou and Under Secretary to the President Titos Christofides were also present at the Cabinet meeting.

Party leaders made no comments after the meeting following a request by the President for a news blackout.

However, Politis reports that Christofias expressed his satisfaction that agreement had been reached with Talat on the basis for a solution being sought. He also informed them as to the progress that was made in the technical committees and working groups. Specifically, he said that there was consensus in three issues (government, EU and economy) while things were stuck in the other three (security, territory and property). He also said Talat isn't discussing the settler issue. In short the paper says he made it clear that he considers that the next step is direct talks in September since the difficult aspects cannot be tackled by the committees.