Cyprus News Agency 96-06-22.

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From: Giorgos Zacharia <lysi@MIT.EDU>

CONTENTS

[01] House President in CoE meeting

[02] EU enlargement negotiations must start on time, says Hansch

[03] Cyprus marks 100 years of European cinema

[04] President calls for ''appropriate, necessary'' EU involvement

[05] EU reiterates decision on Cyprus membership talks

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[01] House President in CoE meeting

Kyprianou, who will be accompanied by MP Doros Christodoulides, will attend the Third Session of the 1996 meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The meeting will examine the international political situation, the rights of the minorities, the possibility of convening a second CoE summit and European political cooperation.

CNA MM/RG/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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[02] EU enlargement negotiations must start on time, says Hansch

In his address to the European Council, meeting here, Hansch said EU heads of state need to give ''encouragement to start genuine negotiations and this must be combined with guidelines and must identify the priority topics.''

Hansch placed the end of the EU Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) ''in the middle of next year'' and said ''the commencement of the enlargement negotiations, which you have set for six months after the end of the IGC, hinges on compliance with this timetable.''

Cyprus, a prospective EU member, is set to start accession negotiations with the EU within six months after the end of the IGC, in accordance with an EU decision in March last year.

''If you fail to meet this deadline, it will inevitably have consequences for the decision on participation in the third stage of monetary union early in 1998, the negotiations on the revision of agricultural policy and the structural funds and the financing of the Union,'' he warned.

Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides, in Florence for the EU Summit, is scheduled to have a working lunch with the fifteen EU heads of state along with the heads of state of other applicant countries including Central and Eastern European nations, the Baltic states and Malta.

EU External Affairs Commissioner Hans Van den Broek has told a Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation correspondent here, that the Commission considers Cyprus to be a future EU member state and is ready to participate actively in efforts to settle the Cyprus question.

He also said Cyprus' fate is clearly European and added that membership negotiations are scheduled for the end of 1997 or the beginning of 1998.

CNA MM/RG/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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[03] Cyprus marks 100 years of European cinema

The festival, from 26 June to 5 July, will be opened by President Glafcos Clerides on Wednesday with the screening of ''Attilas '74'', a documentary by world renowned Cypriot film director Michalis Kakoyiannis on the events prior, during and after the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus and eye-witnesses' accounts.

The President will honour Kakoyiannis who directed in 1964 the film ''Zorba the Greek'' which won three Oscars. Kakoyiannis' career spans over four decades and involves theatre and film productions with Greek and foreign actors.

During the film festival, a total of 18 productions by Cypriot directors will be screened and refer to events from 1929 to the present era.

The films to be shown cover a wide variety of subjects, ranging from ancient Greek tragedies brought to the big screen, to historical accounts, including the first colour production by the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation in 1964 in an attempt to portray the island's history and culture.

The award winning film ''Cyprus '74, through the eyes of the children'', an account of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus through children's paintings, will also be shown during the festival. The film, by Yiannis Karaolis, won a prize for best short film in a Commonwealth competition in Edmonton, Canada, in 1978.

CNA MM/RG/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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[04] President calls for ''appropriate, necessary'' EU involvement

Such an engagement, he said, is both ''appropriate and necessary'' to ensure that a solution of the protracted Cyprus problem complies with acquis communautaire.

The President has also assured EU member-states that he would do his ''utmost'' to achieve a just and lasting solution.

In his remarks at a working meeting with EU heads of state here today, the President welcomed the ''active interest manifested by many to contribute in efforts for a settlement.''

However, he said, ''we wish to reiterate that the EU has a crucial role to play on the ongoing efforts to find a solution.''

''The active engagement of the EU is, I believe, appropriate and necessary since the content of a future solution of the Cyprus problem must be compatible with the Union's acquis and allow Cyprus to function effectively within the Union,'' he explained.

Expressing ''sincere gratitude'' to the Italian EU presidency, whose term in office comes to a close at the end of June to be succeeded by Ireland, the President expressed the conviction that ''the Union will continue to be actively involved and that, in the near future, the appropriate decision allowing for a more substantial and sustained engagement of the Union will be taken.''

Cyprus, he added, shall continue to put its ''utmost efforts into the pursuit of achieving a just and lasting solution as soon as possible.''

EU accession, the President told his European counterparts, is a challenge for Cyprus ''which we are determined to meet successfully.''

''The preparations for accession is a priority for my government,'' he added.

The Florence meeting is part of a structured dialogue Cyprus is engaged in with the EU ahead of its prospective accession to the EU.

President Clerides said this dialogue is ''of great value and assistance to Cyprus as the meetings have not only recorded the high level of preparedness of Cyprus for accession negotiations but have also pinpointed specific areas where more work on our part is required.''

Cyprus, he said, is ''already seriously engaged in the substantial undertaking of harmonising our legislation, policies and practices with those of the Union.''

Cyprus applied for EU membership in July 1991 and will start accession negotiations six months after the end of the EU Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in accordance with an EU decision in March 1995.

The EU avis (opinion) on the Cypriot application, issued in June 1993) considers Cyprus eligible for accession and expresses the wish to see progress towards a Cyprus settlement.

CNA DK/MM/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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[05] EU reiterates decision on Cyprus membership talks

This position is set out in the EU presidency conclusions of the EU summit in Florence which reiterates the need to make available as soon as possible, after the completion of the IGC, the Commission's opinions and reports on enlargement.

This, it adds, can help to make the initial phase of negotiations with countries of the Central and Eastern Europe ''coincide with the beginning of negotiations with Cyprus and Malta six months after the end of the IGC, taking its results into account.''

Cyprus' Foreign Minister Alecos Michaelides, in Florence for the EU summit, attended a lunch today, hosted by the current rotating EU presidency, Italy, for the 15 EU Foreign Ministers and their counterparts from candidate members.

The Minister referred to relations between the EU and Cyprus and assured EU Ministers that Cyprus is preparing appropriately for EU accession ''in order to respond in a positive and creative manner to the challenge of EU membership.''

Michaelides said Cyprus' geopolitical location in the Eastern Mediterranean could act as a ''bridge between Europe and the region.''

The Foreign Minister had a separate meeting with his Irish counterpart, Dick Spring, whose country takes over the EU presidency in July. The two men met earlier this month in London and discussed issues pertaining to the Cyprus accession course.

During the lunch, Foreign Ministers discussed IGC matters and other issues of international concern, including the Middle East peace process, the Bosnian question and the Russian elections.

CNA DK/MM/1996

ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY

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