Cyprus Unhappy With EU Statement on Cyprus' EU Accession: SpokesmanThe Cypriot government Monday said it is unhappy with statements made by European Union (EU) Commission President Romano Prodi on the island's EU accession issue.In a recent interview with the Greek newspaper "To Vima," Prodi said that the EU will find itself in a difficult situation, if the Cyprus question is not resolved and nobody in the EU wants to introduce tension into the union. Prodi reiterated that a solution to the Cyprus question prior to its accession to EU is desirable. Commenting on Prodi's statements, Cypriot government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said the EU, at its Helsinki summit in December 1999, stipulated that a solution to the Cyprus issue would facilitate its accession to EU but not a precondition. Papapetrou said that the Cypriot government will decide how to react to Prodi's statement. He reiterated that the Helsinki decision is crystal clear and binding for the EU, pointing out that Cyprus has to adhere to such decisions in order to counterbalance other views. Cyprus has been divided into the Greek Cypriots-dominated south and the Turkish Cypriots-controlled north since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island in the wake of a failed pro-Athens coup. The U.N. has been trying for decades to bring the two sides back together in a bizonal bicommunal federation formula, but so far no tangible results have been achieved. Cyprus, which applied for EU membership in July 1990, is currently engaged in substantive negotiations with Brussels. And it hopes to be an EU member by January 2003. |
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