Joint Press conference of President Christofias and Prime Minister of Greece
We cooperate closely with Greece to deal with the issue of direct trade at the European Parliament, like we did before at the Council and the Commission, the President of the Republic Demetris Christofias said speaking during a joint Press conference with the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, yesterday, at the Presidential Palace. The Press conference was held after the session of the Informal Party Leaders' Council with the Greek Premier, under the chairmanship of President Christofias.
Asked to say whether a joint strategy with Greece had been forged as regards the handling of the Cyprus problem and particularly concerning the issue of direct trade between the EU and the occupied areas, President Christofias said: “There is a joint strategy to start with. It was not the objective today to forge a joint strategy between Greece and Cyprus from zero. The responsibility to shape a strategy on the Cyprus problem lies primarily with the Cypriot leadership and the President of the Republic. Greece gives its full backing and, of course, as we have stated jointly with the Prime Minister, the strategy has been reaffirmed, as it was announced and agreed upon by the National Council with the press release of 18th September 2009.”
President Christofias also noted the following: “We have been working side-by-side since 2004 when, after the referenda, the European Commission and the Council wanted to put forward this issue of direct trade with the Direct Trade Regulation. Many discussions have been held both at the Foreign Ministers Council and the Commission, always in cooperation with the Permanent Representatives and the Foreign Ministries of Greece and Cyprus. We managed to postpone the discussion and approval of the Regulation at the Council. Unfortunately, the issue has not been erased from the Commission’s agenda and this time, the Commission has seized the opportunity, since according to the Lisbon Treaty, the Council co-decides on various matters with the European Parliament or the competences of the European Parliament are increased. The Commission has put together a package of issues that must be reviewed also by the European Parliament and along with those it also sent the so-called Direct Trade Regulation”.
Mr Christofias pointed out that the Commission had acted wrongly on the aforementioned matter. The interested party, Cyprus, and Greece had not been notified about the Commission’s actions until last March when it finally became known that the issue had been put on the agenda of the Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament.
He added: “Ever since we became aware of this move, we have been cooperating closely with Greece in order to deal with the direct trade issue at the European Parliament, like we did at the Council and the Commission. We have already made moves – a correction was made by the Socialist group – we continue our efforts and we believe that in cooperation with our Euro MPs and Greece’s Euro MPs and with the Parliamentary parties and the leaders of the respective parties, we will manage to deal with this challenge.Even if the European Parliament does make a decision – which we will try to avert of course – we will still have another battlefield, the Council, where decisions are being taken by qualified majority voting.”
“I have protested to the Commission President, representations are being made and the relevant letters are being prepared, in order to explain the substance of the matter and that the issue of the so-called direct trade must not be associated with Turkey’s obligations towards Cyprus and the European Union as these emanate from the Ankara Protocol”, President Christofias further noted.
On his part, Prime Minister Papandreou stated: “I would like to stress too that today we have reaffirmed our joint strategy. I would also like to stress what President Christofias said, namely that we hold talks as two equal states, respecting each country’s independence, always, of course, with the indissoluble bonds that exist between Greece and the Cyprus Republic and Cyprus Hellenism. However, this relationship is completely different to the one Turkey has created with Cyprus through the invasion and occupation troops, and also to Turkey’s relation with the Turkish Cypriots. Regarding the issue of the so-called direct trade, I agree with President Christofias’ observations and we will cooperate very closely to deal with this development”.
Asked to say whether the discussions yesterday had touched upon the substance of the ongoing settlement negotiations, i.e. the rotating presidency, Mr Papandreou replied: “We have a close cooperation, both I personally with President Christofias and also the two Foreign Ministries. We have reintroduced a team which cooperates on both legal matters and issues pertaining to the EU, institutional matters and the functioning of the EU, and also the legal aspects that may concern the solution of the Cyprus problem. I would like to stress again, though, that we respect the decisions of the Cypriot leadership. It is an independent state, we underline that. This is our goal: for Cyprus to be able to have its integrity, independence and freedom again.”
Referring to the Turkish Prime Minister’s visit to Athens in May, Mr Papandreou said that they will have the chance to access their bilateral relations during the past ten years with a view to establishing a spirit of security and recognizing that Greek-Turkish relations must be based on the respect of international law, national sovereignty, territorial integrity and human rights. “This relates also to the Cyprus problem and surely to Turkey’s European course”, Mr Papandreou noted and expressed hope that the Turkish side would show good will at the meeting.
With regard to the ongoing negotiations under the UN aegis for a settlement of the Cyprus problem and the forthcoming “elections” in the occupied areas, President Christofias stressed, replying to a question, that he was not willing to begin negotiations from the beginning, if a new leader of the Turkish Cypriot community would come out of the so-called elections. He said that “whoever asks for such a thing will have to pay the price both in Europe and internationally”.
On the same issue, Prime Minister Papandreou said the negotiations must go on regardless of the “electoral” outcome in the occupied areas, noting that anything achieved during the current negotiation process should not be dismissed.
Responding to a relevant question, Mr Christofias said his position was that the new Turkish Cypriot leader “must be someone who will continue the negotiations from where we left off at our last meeting, and not someone who will ask to begin from scratch while maintaining twisted positions on two states and two already existing and functioning Republics which must forge a cohabitation agreement”.
He added: “The Federal Republic of Cyprus will emerge after the leaders of the two communities sign an agreement. This is not a negotiation between Presidents of states. The leaders of the two communities are negotiating and the component parts of the Federation will emerge after the signing of this agreement and the possible approval of the agreement by the two communities in separate and simultaneous referenda”.
