Cyprus Ready To Sign Accession Treaty After EU Parliament Vote

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, London

11 April 2003

Cyprus took a step closer to EU accession this week after gaining overwhelming approval from the European Parliament following a vote on the issue.

Cyprus is now ready to sign the accession treaty on April 16 along with another nine states- mainly from eastern Europe- who also received the Parliament's stamp of approval.

At a luncheon hosted by the the Board of Trustees of the Ihsan Ali Foundation, the Head of the European Commission delegation in Cyprus, Andriaan Van der Meer, spoke highly of the work undertaken by Cyprus during the accession negotiations, according to a Financial Mirror report. He pointed to the large number of laws that the country has passed to bring itself into harmony with the acquis communautaire as an example of this.

The EU official said there were still "important things to do" however, particularly in the field of professional freedom. Van der Meer also promised to increase electronic communication with the Turkish community regarding EU issues to keep them aware of the benefits of membership.

The accession of the ten new member states will increase the European Union's population by 30%, Van der Meer revealed, and expand its territory by a further 23%. As a result, the EU's economic and diplomatic influence will also increase.

From May 1 2004, Van der Meer pointed out that Cyprus will effectively be a border state of the EU, and warned that this requires a stepping up of efforts to combat trafficking in drugs and illegal immigrants.

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