by Rebekah Gregoriades
Brussels, (CNA) – Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos met in Brussels on Thursday with President of the European Parliament Hans Gert Poettering, with whom he discussed the Cyprus problem, the accession of Cyprus to the Eurozone and the European Council, which begins later on in the day.
Speaking after the meeting, Poettering said they agreed that Cyprus and the European Parliament should give all its support to the Presidency of the EU so that “we get a result during this European Council on the substance of the Constitutional Treaty.â€
“We have discussed the developments with the introduction of the Euro in Cyprus and, thanks to the European Parliament, I think we solved, more or less, the problems of delaying the accession, so there will be no delays of Cyprus and Malta to introduce the Euro on January 1, 2008,†he said.
Poettering added that “the European Parliament and I, we try to do everything to be successful.â€
He noted that they “exchanged views on the political situation in Cyprus,†adding that President Papadopoulos gave him “very good and detailed information,†and that they discussed the situation in Turkey.
Poettering noted that they agreed that Cyprus and the European Parliament should give all its support to the Presidency of the EU so that “we get a result during this European Council on the substance of the Constitutional Treaty.â€
President Papadopoulos said he explained his positions concerning Cyprus and the July 8 process, relating to a UN-brokered agreement to help resume negotiations towards a settlement.
He thanked the European Parliament and Poettering in particular “because he was very helpful in the last minute hitch we might have had about differences between the European Council and the Commission as to the procedure.â€
“I expressed my gratitude because for us this day is an historic day, achieved with a lot of sacrifices by our people, employers as well as trade unions and government, and we consider it to be a vindication of the correct economic policies which the government has been following,†he added.
President Papadopoulos said “this Council is also an historic one†and assured that Cyprus is very supportive of the EU presidency’s efforts.
“We hope that the German presidency will leave its mark on this very important process of reforming the Treaties. I wish every success to the forthcoming Council,†he concluded.
