Brussels, 05/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday in Brussels the Cypriot Foreign Affairs Minister presented his vision of reform of the European Union. Invited by the European Policy Centre, Ioannis Kasoulides appealed for a "Strong Europe, democratic, table and prosperous, capable of playing a central role on the international scene". The Union should be given "the means to assume this role" with a foreign and defence policy that is "developed and co-ordinated", he added. The Republic of Cyprus was asked whether it supported the Commission's proposal in strengthening the Community dimension to its external policy (see EUROPE 23 May page 3). In his reply, the Cypriot Minister explained that certain aspects of foreign affairs policy could be subject to majority qualified voting but thought that it wasn't possible that all Member States would agree on applying the Community method in everything, and Cyprus would support this position.
Mr Kasoulides explained that the European Union's "pooling of resources" in the field of terrorism, illegal immigration, drug trafficking or money laundering, "would be more effective in countering the consequences" than if countries acted alone. Mr Kasoulides asserted that he was against "a strict delimitation of competences" and wanted more transparency. He also said that he wanted the "Community Method" to be maintained and expanded, while keeping a balance between the institutions. The Minister considered that maintaining a Commissar per Member State was essential and called for the Charter of Fundamental Rights to be incorporated into the Treaty. His speech contained a lengthy appeal for Europe to become closer to its citizens and explained that the Convention was crucial and Cyprus would be making a very serious contribution to it. He also answered a number of questions on the problem of partition in Cyprus and its accession to the EU (see EUROPE yesterday page 6).