The European Union should assume ‘a more active role in trying to overcome the deadlock and resume the negotiations’ to solve the Cyprus problem, the European People’s Party (EPP) underlines in its pre-election manifesto which was approved on Wednesday afternoon during its congress in Bucharest, Romania.
The EPP also points out that Europe and the international community will never accept Turkey’s ‘unacceptable partitionist rhetoric’ in favour of a two state solution.
The EPP manifesto, which was the result of a long process of negotiation among member parties, also proposes the creation of the status of ‘safe third countries’ where asylum seekers can be processed, as well as the creation of an EU ‘foreign minister’ and of a European Security Council with the participation of European countries outside the EU.
The paragraph on Cyprus is included in a section titled ‘Our Europe speaks with one voice in the world’ which focuses on the need for a more active role for the EU on the world stage.
In the paragra
ph on Cyprus, the manifesto states that the ‘EPP remains fully committed to supporting the negotiation process for a just, sustainable and viable solution to the benefit of all the people of Cyprus, without the presence of foreign troops and the anachronistic system of guarantees and intervention rights of any foreign state’,
‘The EU should send a strong message of solidarity to Cyprus by assuming a more active role in trying to overcome the deadlock and resume the negotiations to end the 50-year-long occupation of Cyprus by Turkey and reunify the island on the basis of a bizonal bicommunal federation, with political equality, in line with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, EU principles and the acquis,’ the manifesto adds.
‘The unacceptable partitionist rhetoric of Turkey for a two-state solution will never be accepted by Europe and the international community’ the EPP underlines.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led
peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
Source: Cyprus News Agency
