Brussels, 17/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - Pending the meeting of the Troika on Tuesday in Brussels with the third applicant countries, Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gül met EU High Representative for CFSP Javier Solana, on Monday, before the Summit of the Fifteen. They discussed various aspects of relations between the EU and Turkey, including security and defence, and also the Cypriot dossier. The latter was also the centre of the bilateral meeting between Mr Solana and Kofi Annan.
The election of Tassos Papadopoulos to the presidency of the Republic of Cyprus gives rise to "much concern" and even to a "certain amount of pessimism" in EU diplomatic circles because of the major changes to the United Nations plan called for by the newly elected president (see also p.6). These changes mainly include the return into the northern part of Cyprus of 100% of the Greek Cypriots that sought refuge in the southern part of the island when the latter was divided. Some diplomats do not hesitate to see this reversal suffered by the outgoing president, Glafkos Clerides, who negotiated Cyprus' membership to the EU and was willing to accept the UN plan with a few amendments, as a disavowal of the policy implemented by the EU for achieving accession by a reunited island.