EU Seeks To Reward Turkish Cypriots For 'Yes' Vote

by Lorys Charalambous, for LawAndTax-News.com, Cyprus

28 April 2004

Following a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, the European Commission has been asked to put forward proposals for ways in which to reward the Turkish-controlled north of Cyprus for its 'yes' vote in last week's referendum on reunification of the island.

In a statement, the EU ministers announced that:

"The Council is determined to put an end to the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community and to facilitate the reunification of Cyprus by encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community."

It additionally emerged that EUR259 million in aid which had been earmarked for Northern Cyprus in the event of an agreement on reunification will be delivered anyway.

As the European Council looked for ways in which to reward Turkish Cypriots for their faith in the so-called 'Annan Plan', it became increasingly clear that the sense of betrayal expressed by Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen at the Greek Cypriot government was shared by many of the foreign ministers present at Monday's meeting.

Addressing Greek Cypriot representative, George Iacovou, External Relations Commissioner, Chris Patten observed that:

"I don't think that the leadership of the Greek Cypriot community has behaved well, to put it mildly."

However, responding to accusations that the south betrayed its undertaking to accept a reasonable compromise plan in order to secure accession to the EU for the whole island, Mr Iacovou argued that "we have never given such an undertaking".

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