Cyprus approves EU reform treaty, communists oppose

Cyprus's parliament on Thursday ratified the European Union's reform treaty despite opposition from the ruling communists, who had dismissed it as pandering to big-business at the expense of ordinary people.
The Lisbon Treaty, designed to streamline the 27-member bloc's institutions after the accession of central and eastern European countries in 2004, was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum last month. But the vote did not sway other members from forging ahead with ratification plans.
In Nicosia, 31 members of the 56 seat parliament approved the pact. Seventeen members of AKEL, the communist party which won presidential elections in February, opposed it.
"This (treaty) contains rules which protect the few to the detriment of many," Pambis Kyritsis, a senior AKEL member, told parliament.
President Demetris Christofias, leader of AKEL, has said Cyprus will ratify the treaty in spite of his party's doubts.
Political analyst Hubert Faustmann described AKEL's stance as purely symbolic, designed to satisfy its supporters at grassroots level.
Without a treaty, future EU enlargement could be put on hold with a potential detrimental effect on attempts to solve Cyprus's long-running division, an opposition member of parliament said.
"If Turkey is left without a prospect of joining the EU how does AKEL expect Ankara to show goodwill and help solve the Cyprus problem?" right-wing MP Averof Neophytou said.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso hailed the Cypriot parliament's approval of the pact.
"I want to thank the Cypriot government and parliament for their strong support for the treaty." he said in a statement.
"I believe that today's approval of the treaty is a strong signal of how important it is that all member states are heard during the ratification process."
The east Mediterranean island was divided in a Turkish invasion following a brief Greek Cypriot coup in 1974 and is now represented in the EU by its Greek Cypriot government. Turkish Cypriots run a breakaway state recognised only by Ankara.