Cyprus to vote on European Constitution today

The Cyprus House of Represenatives is expected to approve the European Constitution today, despite opposition by the main coalition partner, the communist AKEL.

The first round of a debate at the House of Representatives plenary on a bill took place on Wednesday. All speakers but one (the AKEL representative) said they would approve the bill and one (from the Environmentalists) declared abstention.

Nicos Katsourides, parliamentary spokesman of the largest party and government partner AKEL, “AKEL, being a party which places national interest over and above class and social orientations, if we believed that the non ratification of the Constitution would affect in a negative way the question of Cyprus, we would not hesitate one bit to take a different stance.”

Cyprus would be the first European Union member state to ratify the Constitution after the failure of EU leaders to approve it at their June summit two weeks ago.

Many speakers argued that provisions in the European Constitution could help find a political settlement in Cyprus, consistent with the EU principles of justice, freedom and respect for human rights, saying that Turkey, in its bid to join the Union, would also be asked to align its policies and attitude with the Constitution.