Fact and fiction. In two days, the reactions of EU authorities to the negative vote of the Greek Cypriot community on the Annan plan to reunite the island have been toned down considerably. The initial reaction was extremely harsh, on both the substance and the form. Commissioner Günter Verheugen reacted with particular passion, as he felt he'd been "had" by the Nicosia authorities, which urged the public to vote against the plan and in practice banned Community officials from explaining its significance to the people of Cyprus. The line taken by the Commission, other authorities and even various Greek Cypriot personalities such as former President Vassiliou, was that the result of the referendum was in practice to prolong the division of Cyprus, as there will be no further opportunity for reunification in the near future. According to European Parliament rapporteur Jacques Poos, in case of a negative vote, "the island's division is likely to be sealed indefinitely".
On Monday, the Union's Foreign Ministers said that all was not lost, and that the objective of reunification remained valid. In its conclusions, the Council voiced its "determination" to make sure that the Cypriots will be "soon (...) the citizens of a united Cyprus within the European Union" (see yesterday's bulletin, page 4). The reunification process has simply been interrupted. Holding back his irritation and disappointment, Mr Verheugen himself refused to divide the Cypriots into "goodies" and "baddies", pointing out the previous wrongs of the Turkish part.
Absurd situation. First of all, they went too far one way; they mustn't now got too far the other. I feel that presenting a rose-tinted future, with a solution to all ills, would be disingenuous However, in three days the EU will find itself in an atypical, almost absurd situation. Legally, on Saturday, the whole of the Republic of Cyprus will enter the Union (although the application of Community rules is suspended in the Turkish part), with the result that part of the EU's territory is occupied by a foreign army, which itself belongs to a country which is an accession candidate. If the Annan plan had been accepted, at least we would have a timetable for the withdrawal of the Turkish army, whose presence of almost 40,000 soldiers today would be gradually whittled down to a symbolic figure of 650. But the Annan plan was turned down. How can the EU accept the occupation of its territory? How can it get out of this situation? The Turkish Foreign Minister, Abdullah Gül, replied: by taking the view that the island's division has become permanent and recognising the Turkish Cypriot State. But this does not correspond to the position of the Council of the EU.
However, nothing is ever that simple. All Community authorities recognise the need for immediate steps in favour of the Turkish Cypriot population (which, as it voted for reunification, should not be penalised by the negative vote of the Greek part), consisting not only of the financial support already pledged, but also an end to economic and commercial isolation. And this, according to Günter Verheugen, means co-operating with the Turkish Cypriot authorities (which do not exist, as far as the EU is concerned). Admittedly, he said "co-operation does not mean recognition in the international law sense", but adding that the green line dividing Cyprus "is de facto an external border of the Union". And usually, beyond an external border, there's another State...
A three-point impression. My impression of it all is that:
a) The Council's declaration that Cyprus will "soon" be unified and will be part of the Union as such is a position of principle which will not become reality in the foreseeable future;
b) The Greek part will suffer the consequences of the negative vote. I believe that former President Vassiliou was right when he said: "We had the world's sympathy, because we were the victims of occupation and Mr Denktash had denied us a solution. Our strongest argument was that we should not be punished twice: for the invasion, and because the Turks did not want an agreement. This argument, which the Union accepted, has now been turned inside out";
c) In the absence of reunification, the current situation is untenable and the recognition of a Turkish Cypriot State will become inevitable, which will worsen the EU's institutional problems. If the smaller States can keep dividing, each fraction with a right to its own European Commissioner, representative in the Council, and minimum number of MEPs, the institutional edifice will have to be reviewed. (F.R.)