Newport, 01/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - At the beginning of their informal meeting in Newport, EU foreign ministers examined on Thursday afternoon the elements that the British Presidency had just put to them with a view to drafting an EU declaration in response to the unilateral declaration made by Ankara on 29 July on non-recognition of Cyprus (EUROPE 9002). These elements, which were already largely covered at the Coreper meeting on Wednesday (EUROPE 9017), essentially concerned two aspects: - the question of recognition of Cyprus and the implementation of the additional protocol to the customs union agreement with Turkey. As far as recognition of Cyprus is concerned, the question was that of knowing whether the Twenty-Five would stick to a declaration of the “traditional” kind recalling that the Republic of Cyprus is a member of the EU and that it is the only Cypriot entity recognised by international law and in which, if Cyprus, Greece and France in particular so wish, the EU should go further and make more explicit mention of the question of Cyprus' recognition of the UN process with a view to reunification of the island. While Cyprus is adamant about immediate recognition, France and Greece seem to be content with a more flexible formula, demanding recognition “as soon as possible”, diplomatic sources explained on Thursday. Other delegations also expressed their “annoyance” at seeing Turkey so firm about the fact that it does not recognise one of the European Union Member States although it hopes to become a member of the Union, diplomats explained. When it comes to implementation of the additional protocol, this protocol seems to be moving towards an EU declaration that would underline the need to apply the agreement “as a whole and without discrimination”, diplomats say. This means that Turkey should also open its ports and its airspace to Cypriot ships and aircraft, in order to allow free movement of goods. Although Ankara considers it is a question of transport “services” (which, as such, are not covered by customs union), the Commission defended its point of view on Thursday that the customs union also makes it compulsory for Turkey to allow free movement of goods and that its ports should therefore be open to Cypriot shipping. While the debate on Turkey continued into the evening (we shall come back to this tomorrow), the British EU Council Presidency made it clear that it hoped to conclude the Newport meeting - which is to end on Friday afternoon -with at least consensus on the main elements of the EU declaration, leaving it up to Coreper to fine-tune the text over coming days.
In Nicosia on Wednesday evening, the spokesperson for the Cypriot government, Kypros Chrysostomides, told the press, reported by the Green agency ANA, that the draft declaration by the British Presidency was “unacceptable and absolutely not satisfactory”. Foreign Minister George Iacovou added that the document was “unbalanced and inadequate” and that one must hope that the new document to be presented on Thursday during the informal EU foreign ministers' meeting in Newport will be better and more balanced and that it will take into account what was said by the permanent representatives of Cyprus, France and other countries (Ed.: including Greece) during the Coreper meeting on Wednesday in Brussels. If the Newport text does not prove satisfactory, then the EU negotiating framework for Turkey will not be examined, Mr Chrysostomides warned.
Also on Thursday, during lunch, ministers held a discussion on Iran's refusal to take into consideration the package of EU proposals put forward on 5 August with a view to dissuading the country from continuing nuclear activities of a sensitive nature (EUROPE 9006). Although a formal declaration from the Twenty-Five on this subject was not expected, circles close to the EU High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, stressed on Thursday afternoon that ministers nonetheless wished to send a very clear message to Teheran that, if Iran does not accept the “excellent” European package, the recent resumption of sensitive nuclear activities would constitute violation of the Paris Agreement, which would result in the EU supporting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should the latter decide to take the matter before the UN Security Council. It would be up to the Board of Governors of the IAEA to take such a decision but it would have the unanimous support of the EU if Teheran does not go back on its stance, according to European diplomatic sources.
At the request of Poland and the Baltic States, ministers also held a brief exchange of views on the situation of the Polish minority in Belarus, as well as on Russia, mainly in respect to the border agreements with Latvia and Estonia that Moscow still refuses to ratify.