Cyprus president seeking enhanced EU role for solution

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides reiterated his proposal for enhanced involvement of the European Union in the efforts to break the deadlock on the Cyprus problem, and in reunification talks should they resume, during his speech at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

He noted that this concerns the appointment of an EU envoy for the Cyprus issue, and pledged to make every effort to resume the talks. His proposal for greater EU involvement was first presented to the European Council last March during his first visit to Brussels.

Since then Christodoulides has visited Brussels, Paris and Berlin, and there is now a conviction in Nicosia that the EU could play a mediating role. He however made it clear, during his speech, that his proposal does not involve a change in the framework of the solution, nor a substitution of the UN by the EU, but a “gradual package of solutions in the context of Euro-Turkish relations.”