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The President of the Republic,
Mr Nikos Christodoulides, upon his arrival at the Special European Council
today in Brussels stated: "I would like to express my particular
satisfaction with yesterday's results of the strategic discussion on Turkey.
From the outset, we set a goal, the substantial interconnection of EU-Turkey
relations with the Cyprus problem, and this is clear from yesterday's
conclusions but also from the discussion that took place. We consciously sent
a positive message to Turkey last night. A positive message which was
converted into specific positive developments in EU-Turkey relations,
depending on progress on the Cyprus problem and is a very important juncture,
taking into account the efforts made by the Secretary-General to resume talks.
I would like to thank all the
leaders who participated in the discussion, first and foremost the Greek
Prime Minister, the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, the Prime
Minister of Italy, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands and of course the
President of the Council and the President of the Commission, who clarified
through their interventions this interconnection, who recognised the
constructive role of the Republic of Cyprus, of Nicosia, and the need at this
time for Turkey, if it wishes this positive message, I repeat, to be
converted into specific positive actions, to proceed with those steps that
are needed on the Cyprus problem.
Having said that, I would like
to make a special reference to the discussion that has taken place on
developments in the Middle East. Apart from the universal message, so that
there would be no deterioration of the situation, it was important that the
position of the Republic of Cyprus, in order to review the status in specific
areas of Syria, was welcomed and supported by a significant number of states.
I would mention Denmark, Austria, Italy and Greece, for example. There was no
negative position from anyone and the institutions see this dimension, the
need after 14 years to review the status, I repeat, of specific regions,
something that will have a substantial and positive impact on dealing with
migration.
Beyond that, both I and the
President of the Commission informed about Lebanon, about my visit there, but
also about the upcoming joint visit on 2nd May with the President of the
European Commission, where, at the initiative of the Republic of Cyprus, a specific
package of financial support for the country will be announced, both for the
management of migration, but also for the country itself, which faces
multiple challenges, which I believe will be another step in this holistic
approach to address migration."
Replying to a question about
the process and the time it will take to review Syria's status, President
Christodoulides said: "There is a Council decision that Syria as a whole
is not a safe country, so in the Council – and we raised this last night – we
need to start discussing a review of the status of specific areas in the
database that currently exists. In fact, in my speech, I talked about
specific ways on how to start. For example, in cooperation with the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to start this effort.
I understand from the speech of
the President of the Council, but also from the private discussion we had on
this issue, that there may be a meeting at European Council level with all
the states in the region before the end of his term of office – I am talking
about the Arab world – and this one, Syria, will also be among the topics of
discussion. Let me remind you that Syria has already rejoined the Arab
League."
Asked whether there is anything
we expect at this Council to begin linking EU-Turkey relations with the
Cyprus problem, Christodoulides said: "Yes, there is an initiative on
the part of both the Council and the Commission. At the same time, apart from
Greece, where the Greek Prime Minister is constantly raising the issue and
will also have a meeting with the Turkish President, as is publicly known, I
would like to highlight the intervention of the German Chancellor last night
for the role he played in getting Turkey's acceptance of the appointment of
the personal envoy, but also for the ongoing effort so that Turkey responds
to the calls of the Secretary-General so that dialogue can resume."
Asked to refer to the
discussion of the issue of competitiveness and Cyprus' interest in this
issue, the President of the Republic said: "First, it is important that
we finally discuss the issue of competitiveness. An issue on which we as the
European Union – we must be honest – have a lot to do, also bearing in mind
who we have to compete with. The competitiveness of the European Union is
also the key to the future progress of the European Union and even touches on
the great issue of the strategic autonomy of the European Union.
As a first observation – and I
will also mention this in the discussion we will have after the presentation
of Mr Letta's report, which I think is quite important, with important points
that we must take into account – we as the European Union should look again
at all the procedures that we have on many issues, bearing in mind that as a
Union we have so many regulations, which actually discourage and do not help
to strengthen the competitiveness of the European Union
Beyond that, there are also
specific issues. There are two groups of member states, as you know, which
have taken a position at the moment through the discussions in the Permanent
Representatives Committee, and we will see how the discussion develops."
(NGian)
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