Italian MEP tables motion for a resolution on Cyprus

Italian MEP Sergio Paolo Francesco has tabled a motion for a resolution, requesting the European Commission to actively participate in the dialogue between the two sides in Cyprus, to facilitate the progress of the negotiations and to make the establishment of a new federation on the island dependent on the result of a referendum.

The motion notes inter alia that the ongoing situation in Cyprus creates numerous political problems in the relations between the EU and Turkey, between Cyprus and NATO and between the EU and NATO.

Furthermore it says that on February 11, 2014, negotiations for the reunification of the island to a new "united Cyprus federation” resulted in a text describing the establishment of a new federation of two communities with political equality and a federal constitution that will be approved by the federal supreme court, and in the framework of which the population will enjoy full citizenship throughout the island.

Cyprus talks resumed, under UN auspices, in February, following an agreement on a joint declaration by the leaders of the island’s two communities, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu. The objective is to reunite Cyprus, divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion, under a federal roof.