The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, warned on Friday 25 June that the European Union would never accept a two-state solution for Cyprus.
“The EU will never accept a two-state solution for Cyprus”, was the point she strongly made after the European Council, when asked about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to the north part of Cyprus in mid-July. “This is a very sensitive topic for us, we will observe how the visit will go”, she added.
In its conclusions, the European Council reiterated its commitment to a “comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem on the basis of a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions”.
The President of the European Commission also regretted seeing that there was “still little or no progress on Cyprus. This remains disappointing”, she said. For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron called on Turkey to commit to finding a solution to the Cyprus issue.
On the contrary, “there is a certain sense of détente in the Mediterranean Sea that did not exist a few months ago. We hope this will last”, said the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.
This détente will allow progress to be made on the positive agenda that was proposed to Turkey by the EU, notably concerning the modernisation of the Customs Union. “Turkey has taken steps to address some irritants, like for example the certificates of origin. And we would encourage them to do more”, emphasised Ms von der Leyen. In her opinion, discussions over the mandate for negotiations on modernising the customs union have resumed in the EU Council, but there is “still a lot of work to do”. In its conclusions, the European Council stated that such a mandate may be adopted by the EU Council subject to further guidance from them.
See the conclusions of the European Council: https://bit.ly/3dcz64q (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant with the editorial staff)