Search
/'EU powers seek to block accession course'/ THE GOVERNMENT'S attempt to
secure House approval for its defence budget, Russian proposals about the
Cyprus peace efforts and reports about obstacles to the EU accession course
were the topics of yesterday's lead stories.
Politis
reported that France, Britain and Germany, using the Cyprus House of
Representatives' resolution about Yugoslavia (which had failed to mention
the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo) as an excuse, had blocked the island's EU
accession course. The resolution was cited as proof that Cyprus had not
aligned itself with the EU's Common Foreign Policy and Security. As a
result, the three countries suggested that the relevant chapter in
accession negotiations should not be considered closed. There was now the
possibility that this chapter would be closed for all applicant countries
except Cyprus at the June 22 meeting of EU foreign ministers, the paper
said. The news was greeted with disbelief in Athens and Nicosia, which were
bracing themselves for another diplomatic battle. The paper described this
as "the most serious obstacle encountered", by the island in its accession
course.
Haravghi
said that Russia insisted that any paper drafted by the G8 (the Group of
seven richest countries plus Russia) about Cyprus should include a
reference to UN resolutions. It quoted Russia's ambassador to Cyprus Georgi
Muratov as saying that his country was the only one insisting on this
reference, ahead of June's G8 summit. The paper noted that Britain and the
US had flatly refused to include any reference to the UN resolutions in the
document about Cyprus. Their aim, according to the paper, was to get round
the UN resolutions so that the peace talks, scheduled for September, would
not be within the framework set by UN resolutions.
Phileleftheros,
quoting an anonymous Russian source, said Moscow was worried that Britain
and the US were attempting to scrap the UN basis of the intercommunal
talks. The source said it did not matter that the talks would be under the
auspices of UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan as the invitation would
effectively eliminate past UN decisions. The UN Security Council was
expected to call on the leaders of the two communities to respond
positively to Annan's invitation to peace talks. This invitation would
signal the start of a new procedure which will be linked to a G8 initiative,
the paper said.
Alithia
claimed that the meeting of party leaders at the presidential palace,
called by President Clerides to secure support in the House for the
government's 1999 defence budget did not provide answers to issues of
substance. These would be answered after the scheduled discussions on
defence between the governments of Greece and Cyprus. In view of the
expected resumption of peace talks, all the government's moves in the
defence field would be "very cautious", which was welcomed by the
government.
Machi said that the
parties which took part in the above-mentioned meeting had committed
themselves to making an effort at bridging their differences with the
government. Diko leader Spyros Kyprianou did not attend in protest against
the government's inability to brief him about its plans.
© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999
