EU and UN confident of reunited Cyprus deal

THE UN and EU were optimistic yesterday that talks this week on Cyprus could bring about an end to the island’s 30-year division in time for the reunited nation to enter the European Union on May 1.

“We are closer than ever to finding a solution,” said Guenter Verheugen, the EU official overseeing the bloc’s expansion plans.

Alvaro de Soto, the head UN negotiator between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots said talks due to start on the island tomorrow could be “the endgame of this process at long last”.

Leaders of Cyprus’s partitioned Greek and Turkish communities signed up last week to a UN plan aimed at reunification before the island joins the EU.

However, Mr De Soto said much work was needed on the accord which would be put to the vote on both sides of the island in April.

“We are looking forward to an intense few weeks ahead,” he said in Brussels.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish invasion came after a failed coup backed by supporters of union with Greece.

The UN plan calls for a single state with Greek and Turkish Cypriot federal regions linked through a central government.

Mr De Soto said he was confident the communities would back the plan in the referenda, saying it would be “very surprising at least, if not tragic”, if either side voted against reunification.

Verheugen praised the “courageous” role of the Turkish government in supporting reunification efforts, adding its positive stance on Cyprus should help Turkey’s bid for EU membership talks next year.

He added that €300m of aid would be made available for the north of Cyprus when it joins the EU.