Brussels, 03/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - Attempts by the Finnish Presidency to take forward the negotiations it has been secretly holding over the past few weeks on the Cyprus issue have not been successful (see EUROPE 9298). Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja was forced to give up on bringing his Turkish and Cypriot counterparts and members of the Turkish Cypriot community together for talks to resolve the issue of the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community and encourage Ankara to implement the protocol extending the Customs Union to Cyprus. The Cancellation of the meeting, planned for Helsinki on 5-6 November, does not mean the abandonment of all hopes of bringing the various positions closer together, but it deals a serious blow to the search for an acceptable compromise before the publication of the Commission's progress report on Turkey on 8 November. “Our aim has been to find a solution that enables the uninterrupted continuation of Turkey's accession negotiations and improves the situation of both communities in Cyprus,” said Mr Tuomioja, who said he would continue to work to find a solution, in a press release. However, “It would have been helpful, particularly for Turkey, if we could have achieved a solution or at least shown that negotiations were under way,' he said in an interview in Friday's Financial Times, adding, “It would have taken the edge off some of the justified criticism”.
Since it has proved impossible to bring all parties to the negotiating table, the meeting of 5-6 November was quite simply cancelled, with each blaming the other for this situation. The meeting between Mr Tuomioja and the leader of the Turkish Cypriot community Mehmet Ali Talat, scheduled when the Helsinki meeting was still on, did indeed take place late on Friday afternoon. This meeting was to prepare for Mr Talat's visit to the Finnish capital, where, it was confirmed, the Cypriot foreign minister would be present, said a Finnish diplomat, hinting that the problem came from Ankara. “We will have to wait and see what happens on 8 November” before resuming the negotiations, which will, then, remain suspended at least until the publication of the Commission's report, said the same source. The Finnish Presidency's proposals will be adjusted, he acknowledged, in the hope that political dialogue will mean a package can be agreed before the European Council in Brussels on 14-15 December, when the issue will again be expected to come up. The Presidency's proposals, which remain secret, focus on the opening of the Turkish Cypriot port of Famagusta to trade with the EU, with, at the same time, the return of Cypriots to the abandoned district of Varosha, which would be placed under UN mandate. There are differences of opinion on this latter point, as there are on the possible opening of an airport to international traffic in the northern part of the island (see EUROPE 9290). (ab)