The President of the Republic Mr Nicos Christodoulides, who is in Brussels for the European Council Summit, had yesterday successive meetings with the Presidents of the institutions.
At the end of his meetings, the President of the Republic made statements to the media, as follows. You saw the heads of all the European institutions, it was your first contact with them as President of the Republic and you developed specific proposals, especially on the Cyprus problem. How do you assess the contacts?
President of the Republic. I want to express my satisfaction with the fact that I see that there is a strong desire to resume the talks to resolve the Cyprus problem, taking advantage of important circumstances that exist at this particular moment, and what we have agreed is to work together in this direction. The objective of resuming talks on the basis of the agreed framework is a common goal and what we agreed is to be in constant contact with all three Presidents precisely to achieve what I mentioned.
It was important and I had to start with the Presidents of the three institutions. It is important to secure this support, this support, if you like, of our effort also from the Member States of the European Union. So, tomorrow is important, first to the European People's Party, which is already on the agenda, that there will be an update from me. I will clearly ask for support, in particular from all those who participate in the European Council, but then with bilateral meetings within the European Council with leaders who are not from the European People's Party, but also, as we agreed with President Michel, during the European Council I will have the opportunity to specifically develop our proposal, which I repeat, from the response that I have seen so far at least from the Presidents of the three institutions, there is a feeling that I will be able to present our proposal. But we will continue the effort until the objective is achieved.
Question:
Is it too early to expect at tomorrow's Council or at the end of the Council to have a specific position of the European Union on your proposal or is it something that we will see in the coming days?
President:
There will not be any reference to tomorrow's conclusions. The conclusions have been discussed for a long time, the agenda is very specific. I will update below under "Other business", that is what I have asked the President of the European Council to do. What we want to achieve is to use this timeframe until the Turkish elections to allow this proposal, this approach of ours, to mature politically and to be implemented, if everything goes well, immediately after the elections in Turkey. It is important that this enhanced role on the part of the EU is a role that I want to say publicly that it is in no way intended to replace the role of the United Nations. We, more than anyone else, want it to be within the framework of the UN, knowing very well what the approach of the Turkish side is. But the EU has all those incentives for all parties involved in the Cyprus problem to create a win-win situation for all, a mutually beneficial situation for all, and it is precisely through the discussions that we have, through the development and presentation of our proposal, that our interlocutors see the added value.
Question. President?
President of the Republic. We are by no means a single-issue Member State. We have both a voice and a role to play in all that is being discussed. And one of these issues is immigration. We look forward to the development and presentation of a concrete plan by the European Commission in relation to the Eastern Mediterranean. Tomorrow there are other important issues that affect the Republic of Cyprus. As a Member State, as a responsible Member State, we must have specific positions and specific positions. Whether it concerns Ukraine and the illegal Russian invasion of the country, where our position is clear against this kind of behaviour, or whether it concerns issues of competitiveness, or whether it concerns energy issues. We are a Member State of the European Union, we are influenced by the decisions of the European Union, and the key issue is to be actively involved in the decision-making process. And it was a message that I conveyed to my interlocutors today and it is something that I repeat within the framework of the European Council and the Councils in which the Ministers participate, the need for a substantial presence on the part of the Republic of Cyprus.
(AF/NG/SX)
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