Brussels, 18/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Enlargement Commissioner, Günter Verheugen, said this week that he was very happy that rival Turk and Greek Cypriot leaders, Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktash, had started negotiating again. The Commissioner said "The European Union has brought some movement (on Cyprus) through the planned accession (of Cyprus to the EU). Otherwise nothing would have moved. It is encouraging and promising". He went on, "We can assume there's an actual will to unification for the first time. We should let the negotiators have their talks in peace". The two Cypriot leaders agreed this week to launch a programme of intensive talks. Since the European Council of Helskinki in December 199, the EU has no longer officially seen the resolution of the Cypriot question as a criterion for Cyprus' accession, but a political agreement between the two communities before the end of the accession negotiations (expected for the end of the year) would obviously remove a serious challenge hanging over the entire enlargement process.