EU to be active part at Geneva conference on Cyprus

 The European Union (EU) will be an active party at an upcoming conference in Geneva which is convened to put its seal on an accord for the reunification of Cyprus, the Cypriot government said on Friday.

Government spokesman Nicos Christodoulides said in a statement to Cypriot state television that EU participation will be confirmed when the two-day European summit in Brussels concludes.

Since Cyprus will continue to be an EU member after a solution, the EU should be a party in the discussions, the statement said.

Christodoulides said that EU will be represented by European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker.

"It is very important that the EU will be present at this crucial and historic moment for the Republic of Cyprus and it is prepared to assume its share of the responsibility towards a member state," Christodoulides said.

The conference on Jan. 12 will follow a three-day round of negotiations between the Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, who will try to wrap up an agreement on all pending internal issues under negotiation in the past 18 months.

The conference will deal with security arrangements and a demand by Cyprus to terminate the system of guarantees accorded to Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom when the eastern Mediterranean island became a state in 1960.

Turkey occupied a sizeable part of Cyprus in 1974 in reaction to a coup inspired by the military rulers of Greece. The Turkish Cypriot leader would like the conference to be only attended by the three guarantor powers and the two Cypriot community leaders.

Akinci had indicated that the EU would be present as an observer.

But EU sources were quoted by the Cypriot state television as saying that it would be ridiculous and out of the question to have the two highest EU officials at the conference without a substantive role in ensuring that an agreement will be in line with the EU acquis.

"We are fully ready for Geneva," said the commission's spokesman Margaritis Schinas.

Anastasiades said that he would also like all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to be present at the conference as the council will be called to give its approval and guarantee a solution.

source: Xinhua