Cyprus PIO: News Update in English, 00-11-17

Cyprus Press and Information Office: News Updates in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>

Friday, 17 November 2000

CONTENTS

• [01] Cyprus closes another chapter of the acquis communautaire
• [02] Accession to the European Union is not an end in itself

[01] Cyprus closes another chapter of the acquis communautaire

Speaking at the tenth Meeting of the Inter-Governmental Conference for Cyprus EU accession in Brussels yesterday, the Chief Negotiator and Coordinator for the Harmonization Process Mr George Vassiliou, thanked the President of the Council for his decision to close the Chapter, which he described as "the cornerstone of the single market". It is Cyprus' responsibility to ensure that the relevant acquis is both timely and fully implemented, he said.

Mr Vassiliou reconfirmed the Government's commitment to take all the necessary measures in order to achieve its objectives: "It is in this spirit that we have been very active and we succeeded in speeding up the ransposition of the New Approach Directives and the adoption of the enlargement standards," he said.

"I am pleased to inform the Conference that Cyprus would be in a position to adopt the enlargement standards well within 2001", he added.

Mr Vassiliou said that Cyprus has also made good progress regarding the chapter on transport and expressed the certainty that the closing of the chapter would be announced during the Cyprus - EU ministerial meeting to be held on December 5 in Brussels.

He praised the European Commission's 2000 Regular Report on Cyprus, which he said is characterised by objectivity and clarity and expressed satisfaction for the enlargement Strategy Paper which outlines clearly the tasks that Cyprus needs to carry out to complete the negotiation process.

Mr Vassiliou also referred to the 5th round of UN sponsored talks on Cyprus held in Geneva between the 1-10 November 2000, at the end of which the United Nations Secretary General presented his preliminary ideas on the overall solution. He expressed the hope that more discussions will take place in the next rounds which will culminate with the submission of a new set of proposals by the middle of 2001.

The Cyprus Government is cooperating fully with the Secretary General and his Representative, he said, and expressed gratitude for the interest that the European union is showing in the development of these talks.

"Let us hope that on the basis of the proposals to be submitted by the UN, it would be possible to arrive at a solution that will reunite Cyprus," he concluded.

[02] Accession to the European Union is not an end in itself

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Cyprus, which was represented by Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, attended the meeting.

The six Foreign Ministers reviewed the progress of their countries' membership negotiations and discussed accession procedures and the prospects of the EU enlargement.

They welcomed the commitment undertaken by the fifteen EU member states in Biarritz regarding EU institutional reforms, which would allow the Union to accept new members by the end of 2002. They also welcomed the EU report on enlargement strategy, which includes a programme to speed up accession negotiations.

The next meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the six candidate countries for accession to the EU will be held in May 2001, in Prague.

From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/

Cyprus Press and Information Office: News Updates in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article