Brussels, 18/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission announced that it would propose direct trade links between the European Union and northern Cyprus. This proposal could be made at the end of June, circles close to European Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen say. The Commission will make "in a very short period of time a proposal which will effectively end the isolation of northern Cyprus (…), facilitate trade not only between the north and south of Cyprus but also directly between the north and the EU", Mr Verheugen said after the EU/Turkey Association Council that he attended alongside Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen and his Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gül, who called on the EU to put an end to the "unfair treatment" imposed on Turkish Cypriots to date.
After the referendum that had seen Turkish Cypriots from the north approve the plan for reunification of the island and the Greek Cypriots from the south reject it (which meant that only the south joined the EU on 1 May), the European Union Member States had decided to reward the north for putting an end to the economic embargo imposed since 1974 because of its occupation by Turkey. A first regulation intended to begin ensuring free movement of goods between north and south took effect on 1 May (EUROPE of 30 April). In its proposal end June, the Commission will propose going even further by allowing products to be exported without going through the southern part of the island. The proposal must also give details of arrangements for aid promised amounting to EUR 259 million, and propose a greater European Commission presence on the spot.