Brussels, 28/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - Cyprus' talks for membership to the EU are not experiencing "any particular difficulty", and it is therefore "realistic" to imagine that they may be effectively concluded on all chapters by the end of 2002, as envisaged in the conclusions of the European Council of Gothenburg on EU enlargement, said European Commissioner Günter Verheugen, as he answered questions on Thursday at the press conference taking stock of the enlargement process (see below). With regard to the political problem of Cyprus, Mr Verheugen affirmed "we should like a solution at a time close to the signature of the accession treaty". He commented that he thought it would not be "intelligent" to speculate right now on what would be done if such a solution were not found.
Mr Verheugen reiterated his energetic appeal to Turkey and the Turkish community of Cyprus to do everything possible so that talks on Cyprus resume under the aegis of the UN. He remarked that he has already said how "concerned" he was by the hardening of the attitude held by the North of Cyprus, and, unfortunately, he said he hardly saw any positive signs. However, he also added that, after his talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem (whom he has seen twice this week, in Luxembourg and Brussels), he was "fully optimistic" about the possibility of a solution in the timeframe opened in Gothenburg for enlargement.