| EU Satisfies S. Cyprus in Accession Document |
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| Written by Administrator | |
| Wednesday, 07 December 2005 | |
 The European Union (EU) has reached an agreement on the Accession
Partnership Document (APD). Representatives of member countries coming
together in the working group yesterday made another concession for the
Greek Cypriots and reached an agreement on the APD.Footnote 5, objected to by the Greek Cypriots, was removed from the text. In its place, a reference was made to the issue in the APD’s cover page that will be present while being offered to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) and THE EU Council of Ministers. Footnote 5 made reference to the declaration attached to the Negotiation Frame Document (NFD) accepted on October 3 after long and difficult negotiations and pointed out that every international institution’s decision making mechanism is autonomous. Turkey, with this declaration, has preserved its authorization to veto the Greek Cypriots’ membership to international institutions, especially to NATO. The reference in the APD pointed at this authorization of Turkey. Though diplomatic resources say the fact that the reference was removed from the text and placed in the presentation (cover) page does not abrogate the validity of the declaration attached to the NFD, and they also point out that the Greek Cypriots are satisfied once again. As to the reason for erasing the reference, it is said “the declaration that international institutions’ decision making mechanisms are autonomous” is in the Council’s minutes and the content of these minutes cannot be presented in documents announced to the public opinion. However, this account is far from convincing. Footnote 5 was present in the Commission documents distributed during the Turkey-EU Joint Advisory Committee held in Brussels last week. In yesterday’s meeting, some changes termed “small” by diplomats were made in the paragraph relating to Cyprus. The APD, which became an A-point after the meeting, is expected to be approved at the COREPER meeting to be held on Thursday and by the Council for General Affairs and External Relations to be held on December 12 and to go into effect. |
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