EU ready to play ‘active role’ in supporting UN-brokered Cyprus talks, says Belgian envoy
The European Union is ready to support United Nations-backed efforts to resume Cyprus peace talks, Belgian Ambassador to Cyprus Marc Calcoen told the Cyprus News Agency, as his country prepares to assume the bloc’s six-month rotating presidency on January 1.
“The EU remains fully committed to a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem, within the UN framework and in line with the EU acquis and the principles on which the EU is founded,” said the ambassador, who is based in Athens.
“The EU has called, most recently in the European Council conclusions of June 2023, for the speedy resumption of negotiations and expressed readiness to play an active role in supporting all stages of the UN-led process and step up its practical support to facilitate a comprehensive settlement, with all appropriate means at its disposal,” he noted.
The EU, he said, “would applaud the nomination of a new UN envoy by the UN secretary-general and hope that the appointment will be made public as soon as possible.”
“This UN envoy should work towards establishing a roadmap for further topics to be discussed between the relevant parties. As always, the EU is ready to help to further this process, but I repeat that this process is UN-led,” Calcoen said.
Asked to comment on a proposal by Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides for the appointment of an EU envoy on the Cyprus question, the Belgian ambassador said that if such an initiative “is helpful and acceptable to both sides, I am sure the high representative and the president of the EU Council will certainly move in that direction to support the UN-led talks.”
He stressed that a solution to the Cyprus issue is a “sine qua non” for easing tensions in the region, while noting that “all parties are aware of the special interest that the EU has in a peaceful and respectful solution to the Cypriot question.”
“The EU urges all parties concerned to do their utmost to bring along this solution,” Calcoen added, referring to recent tension prompted by Turkish moves in the UN-controlled buffer zone.
