Britain Reaffirms Support For Cyprus's EU Entry

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

14 November 2001

Following his first official meeting with Yiannakis Cassoulides, his counterpart in Cyprus, UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw reaffirmed the United Kingdom's support for the Cypriot bid to join the European Union.

This follows threats made by the Turkish Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, earlier this month to annexe the Turkish controlled northern sector of Cyprus if the European Union admits a divided island. Although he refused to comment in detail on the row, Mr Straw did stress that Cyprus's EU application needed to be considered 'entirely on its merits, without preconditions so far as a settlement of the conflict between Turkey and the government of Cyprus is concerned.'

The British Foreign Minister went on to reassure the people of Cyprus that there was no possibility of the country becoming marginalised as a result of the stalled peace talks.

Cyprus has come under what many feel is unwarranted fire in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, with former CIA head James Woosley accusing the jurisdiction of harbouring terrorist funds, and demanding that its accession to the European Union be delayed for '3-4,000 years' if it failed to co-operate in investigations, and the Turkish Prime Minister attacking Southern Cyprus as a haven for money laundering and corruption.

Both attacks were swiftly and angrily rebuffed by the Greek Cypriot authorities, and on the matter of the international war against terrorism and money laundering, Mr Straw expressed his 'deep gratitude to the government of Cyprus and the people of Cyprus for their support for the coalition against terrorism, which support has been forthcoming not only in words but in deeds as well.'

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