Brussels, 01/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - The leaders of the Greek Cypriot community, Nicos Anastasiades, and of the Turkish community, Dervis Eroglu, have agreed to “continue the screening process” regarding the various issues/chapters of the Cypriot problem and the positions of the parties, the deputy special adviser to the Secretary General for Cyprus, Lisa Buttenheim, announced on Monday 31 March, following a meeting that lasted nearly 3 hours.
The leaders have agreed to conclude this phase “as soon as possible, with a view to entering the next stage of structured negotiations” on the Cypriot issue, she added. Anastasiades explained that there had been an “assessment of progress, or lack thereof, running until today (31 March)”. “It appears that there is a need to continue dialogue with regard to all matters relating to the Cyprus issue”, he added. On Twitter, he stressed the “incoherence of the proposals” of the Turkish Cypriot party, in the framework of the joint declaration of 11 February, explaining that they will “definitely” be a second phase, in which the discussions will go into greater detail. Stressing that the meeting had taken place in a “friendly atmosphere”, Buttenheim went on to state that the leaders had agreed to meet again “within one month, or earlier if required”. Additionally, a meeting of the steering group on Cyprus chaired by President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso reviewed the situation on 27 March, following the resumption of talks on the Cypriot issue. Barroso expressed his full support to both parties in concluding the process (our translation throughout). (CG)