EC supports efforts for a Cyprus solution

The European Commission fully supports efforts by the President of the Republic Demetris Christofias with a view to reach a solution in the Cyprus problem, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and Industry Gunter Verheugen has said.

Speaking after a meeting with the President, Verheugen, currently on a two-day visit to Cyprus, said that the meeting lasted more than expected “because we had to discuss very important topics”.

“We have discussed the institutional transition in the European Union. I informed the President about the state of play on the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon and the institutional changes which will come”, he added.

He said that “we have, of course, discussed the response of the European Union on the economic crisis and being in charge of the economic coordination in the EU, I informed the President what we are doing next and what we have achieved so far”.

“I expressed my appreciation for the strong support that we got from the government of Cyprus for our policy of crisis response”, he noted.

He went on to say that “the President informed me about the progress made in his talks with the Turkish Cypriot side to find a settlement and it was of course a very confidential part of our conversation”.

“I only told him that the European Commission fully supports his endeavors and fully trusts him that he will do everything he can to find a solution”, he stressed.

He reiterated his conviction that “the solution of this really outdated problem – this problem is a problem of the 20th century, it has no place in the 21st century – is clearly in the interest of the people living on this island whether they are Greeks or whether they are Turks”.

He concluded by saying that “this has to be the principle for the future to find a solution in the interest of the people living here”.

President Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat have been engaged in direct negotiations since September 2008, with a view to reunite the island, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion.