According to press reports, the leaders of the two communities spent most of their meeting yesterday discusssing the opening of a crossing point at Limnitis in the north-west of the island.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said afterwards that there were still a number of points on which the two sides disagree and that their two advisors would work on the issue. He added that in any case it would not open under the same terms as the other crossing points because the Kokkina area complicates things.
Talat added that unfortunately the Limnitis issue overshadowed the Cyprus problem to the detriment of the question of territory took which would be continued at the next meeting scheduled for Friday 26 June.
On his part, asked whether progress had been made on Limnitis, President Christofias told newsmen: “Be patient.”
Meanwhile, EU Commission Vice-President responsible for Enterprise and Industry Gunter Verheugen, who is currently on an official visit to Cyprus told a press conference yesterday that the EU Commission is prepared to accommodate a solution to the Cyprus problem as long as it’s based on the principles on which the EU was foundedyesterday.
The EU Commissioner, who is in Cyprus at the invitation of President Christofias, after a long spell away from the island, expressed his strong support of the approach for a “Cypriot ownership” of the latest efforts to solve the conflict, highlighting the “need for a solution” and the benefits it would bring to both communities. He also said the EU “fully trusts that Christofias will do everything he can to find a solution”.
“People talk of a frozen conflict. No, there is a problem, it needs to be addressed,” he said.
Verheugen has a long history with Cyprus, having played a crucial part in removing the link between Cyprus’ EU accession path and a Cyprus settlement in 1999 in Helsinki. As Enlargement Commissioner, he helped pave the way for Cyprus to join in 2004. However, relations turned sour when former president Tassos Papadopoulos called for a “resounding NO” in the Annan plan referendum, leading Verheugen to claim he’d been “cheated” by the Papadopoulos administration.
“I have a special interest personally to see on the ground how a country whose accession I was able to support, how it developed after accession. The impression today is a very, very positive one. It’s obvious the country has taken advantage of its EU membership,” he said yesterday at a press conference. On the failure of the UN-sponsored talks in 2004, he said the two sides came “closer than ever before, it was bad luck, it can happen”.
Asked whether he still felt “cheated” by Cyprus following 2004, he referred to the fact that former president Papadopoulos was no longer alive, adding this was “now a matter of the past” which “belongs to history”.
Mr Verheugen also had a meeting with Mr Talat after which he said that Turkish Cypriots unequivocally have the right to enjoy the privileges of EU membership. He expressed his happiness over the progress in talks between the leaders of the two communities noting that both leaders exerted utmost efforts for a solution in the island acceptable to both sides. He stressed that the EU was ready to support the talks but not as a judge or referee and that the EU wanted to provide support and advice should both parties ask for it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment