Brussels, 02/12/2003 (Agence Europe) - According to the Commissioner for Enlargement, Günter Verheugen, the Commission considers that the reunification process in Cyprus could be relaunched again in view of facilitating accession of the reunified island to the EU on 1 May 2004 if the Turkish Cypriot opposition wins the election on 14 December in the northern part of the island. Addressing the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Belgian Senate (which is preparing a report of recommendations on the situation in Cyprus of February), Mr Verheugen did not hide his political hope that he would like to see an opposition victory (of which all the parties are all for agreeing to the peace plan proposed by Kofi Annan and for EU accession"). At the same time, he acknowledged that from a legal point of view, the EU could obviously not recognise elections that took part in the self proclaimed "Turkish Cypriot Republic", which it did not recognise. In the event that the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash is defeated ("who considers himself very powerful, but whose time, I consider, is gone"), could go very quickly as Turkey would then have the political room for allowing it to move very quickly for a political solution to the Cypriot problem on the basis of the Annan plan, explained Mr Verheugen. On the EU side, all preparations are in place for allowing a rapid modification of the accession treaty and the extension of the Community acquis (including European aid) in the North of the island in such a way that would keep the 1 may deadline for Cyprus's accession. Mr Verheugen said that he, however, worried by "certain signs" that indicate that the election on 14 December would not respond to normal European democratic criteria, "notably because Denktash is currently considerably increasing the number of eligible electors by bringing in people from Turkey".
A senator who demanded whether there could be a kind of popular rising against Mr Denktash in the event of the opposition's electoral defeat (possibly rigged), Mr Verheugen (while giving assurances, as the opposition displayed no potential for violence), warned Turkish Cypriot security forces, and subsequently the government in Ankara: that if they decided to forcibly repress the peaceful and democratic opposition demonstrations, "then turkey could forget everything. In this case, we (the Commission) will no longer have any need for writing up our assessment report" expected in autumn 2004. Addressing the Turkish government, Mr Verheugen also pointed out that a solution to the Cypriot problem was not considered as a "formal condition" for opening accession negotiations with Ankara ("they are two different things") but the maintaining of the status quo in the island beyond 1 May 2004 would be a "serious obstacle" for the continuation of the integration process of Turkey in the EU. The Commissioner insisted that Turkey had an interest in doing all it could for finding a solution before 1 May 2004 for exactly two reasons: firstly, because there will not be any better offer after this date and also because after 1 May 2004, Cyprus will have its own say at the European Council, which will decide on Turkish demands.