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Cyprus PIO: News Update in English, 03-07-03
From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>
[01]Thursday, 03 July 2003 Ireland hopes for accession of reunified Cyprus
to EU, says Irish Premier
[02] Cyprus can become example of peaceful coexistence in Europe, says
MacShane
[01] Ireland hopes for accession of reunified Cyprus to EU, says Irish
Premier
Ireland continues to hope that a united island of Cyprus will accede to the
European Union next May and will be ready to assist in whatever way it can,
the Irish Prime Minister, Mr Bertie Ahern, has noted. In his address before
the Irish House of Representatives last week on the outcome of the
Thessaloniki European Council, Mr Ahern made reference to Cyprus noting the
following: "While in Thessaloniki, I had a meeting with President
Papadopoulos of Cyprus. The President briefed me in detail on the current
state of play in Cyprus. I indicated that my colleagues in the European
Council and myself are united in our support for the continuation of the
United Nations Secretary-General's mission of good office and for
negotiations on the basis of his proposals.
In that context, I said to the President that Ireland looked forward to
Cyprus becoming a member state during our Presidency on 1 May next year. I
indicated that we continued to hope that a united island of Cyprus will
accede to the European Union next May and that we will be ready to assist
in whatever way we can." Ireland takes over the rotating Presidency of the
European Union in the first half of 2004, following the Italian Presidency.
[02] Cyprus can become example of peaceful coexistence in Europe, says
MacShane
Cyprus, once it is reunited and a full EU member state, can show the world
that conflicts of the past can be overcome and the nations of the common
Europe can live together in peace, the British Minister of State for Europe,
Mr Denis MacShane, said. The British Minister, who was speaking at an event
on Cyprus organised by the Cyprus National Federation of Great Britain, at
the House of Commons last Tuesday, pledged that his government would do
everything possible to achieve a resolution of the Cyprus problem prior to
the island's accession to the EU in May 2004, noting, "Our wish is that on
May 1st it would be a united Cyprus that enters the EU so that a new
chapter of history, not a new chapter, a century of history comes; a first
moment when Cyprus as a united island can fulfil its manifest destiny in
terms of democracy, trade unions, journalism, different political parties,
different religions." "The Annan plan is there, it is a way forward. Of
course it will not satisfy everybody", Mr MacShane further said, adding at
the same time that that was a historic moment which had to be seized.
He also pledged to discuss the matter with the Turkish government soon
during a trip to Ankara. Present at the event, which was organised on the
occasion of the anniversary of the Turkish invasion in Cyprus in July 1974,
were the Cyprus House President Mr Demetris Christofias, Cyprus' High
Commissioner to Britain Mrs Myrna Kleopa, the President of the Cyprus
National Federation of Great Britain Mr Harris Sofokleides, and various
British MPs. Addressing the event, the House President Mr Christofias
expressed gratitude to the friends of Cyprus in the British Parliament for
their constant support and solidarity, and to the National Federation of
Cypriots in Britain for their daily contacts with British officials and
others to promote the resolution of the Cyprus problem and the reunification
of the island.
From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/
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