Cyprus News Agency: News in English (PM), 98-07-21

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] ESC President - Cypriot officials

[02] Kasoulides - Yilmaz - threats

[03] EU Commissioner - employment and social affairs

[04] Sir David - lecture to T/Cs

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[01] ESC President - Cypriot officials

Jenkins met Labour and Social Insurance Minister Andreas Moushouttas as well as Cyprus' chief negotiator to the EU talks, George Vassiliou.

He expressed the ESC's willingness to help Cyprus in this field, acknowledging at the same time that the Republic is quite advanced in economic and social issues.

After his meeting with Moushouttas, the EU official pointed out that Cyprus will have to decide on the establishment of an economic and social affairs body as "there is no one single model".

"We heard from the minister of the existing bodies which they have," he said, noting that "in our view there should be no undermining of systems that work well".

"I know there is a lot of social partnership already in Cyprus, it's not a new thing, it's a question of how to adapt it to the new realities, perhaps also the perspective of Cyprus joining the EU," Jenkins added.

He also pledged that the ESC "will be in touch with the socio-economic organisations here to see how we can help in the developments of their discussions."

On his part, Moushouttas said they "looked into the possibility of establishing a similar Committee in Cyprus" and he "asked the EU official to provide more details about the operation of similar committees in other countries".

After his meeting with Vassiliou, the EU official said the ESC has invited the social partners from Cyprus to visit Brussels.

"Cyprus has got a long tradition of involving the social partners and I was very interested to hear that you will be having a whole round of discussions with the various economic and social interest groups in the development of your accession strategy and negotiations," Jenkins said.

Noting that the EU screening process with Cyprus has not yet touched on social and economic issues, he said that "Cyprus is quite well advanced, perhaps, compared to other applicant countries".

Cyprus, which applied for full EU membership in July 1990, opened accession talks with the EU in March 1998.

Vassiliou described the EU official's visit as very important, as it is the first discussion Cyprus has had with this Committee.

"The various social and economic groups play an important role in offering advice and assessing decisions," he said.

CNA DG/AA/MA/GP/1998

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[02] Kasoulides - Yilmaz - threats

He pointed out that the arrival of more Turkish forces along with the presence of occupation troops on the island, since 1974 when they invaded and occupied 37 percent of its territory, shows that Cyprus has every right to bolster its defences.

Commenting on an illegal visit Monday by Turkish Premier Mesut Yilmaz to the occupied part of Cyprus and his new threats against Cyprus' defensive plans, Kasoulides said:

"I am not going to follow the pattern of the threats issued by Prime Minister Yilmaz. But the only comment I have to make is that nobody should wonder why the Republic of Cyprus has the right to upgrade its own defences."

The Turkish Premier and other high ranking officials attended celebrations to mark the 24th anniversary of Turkey's invasion and continued occupation.

Yilmaz reiterated threats against Cyprus if it boosts its defences with anti-aircraft missiles, at a time when Turkish occupation forces not only upgrade their weaponry but increase their strength.

The Foreign Minister condemned the provocative arrival in the occupied areas of Turkish warships, submarines, warplanes, helicopters, parachutists and other military forces.

"I expect to see similar reaction directed towards Turkey to the reaction demonstrated when a few weeks ago military aircraft from the Greek Air Force had landed at the Paphos air base," Kasoulides said.

He pointed out that "only a similar reaction will correspond to objective third party observers."

The western Paphos military air base was completed this year as part of the joint defence pact agreed by the governments of Cyprus and Greece in November 1993.

It provides that Greece will come to Cyprus' aid in case of a new Turkish offensive.

Four Greek warplanes stopped briefly at the Paphos base and three days later Turkey sent in its own military aircraft in retaliation.

CNA RM/AP/MM/1998

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[03] EU Commissioner - employment and social affairs

Flynn was speaking at a press conference here Tuesday with the Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, Andreas Moushouttas, during which he described his visit to the island a "success" and reiterated his conviction that the people of Cyprus are very determined and committed to achieving an early accession.

"It is my personal assessment that a lot of things are already in place and I have commitments for the outstanding legislative instruments to be undertaken in the short term", Flynn said.

Noting that "a lot has been done and achieved", Flynn said that "if the commitments that I have heard are proceeded with in the time scale that Mr. Moushouttas says, then I foresee that the social acquis will cause no problem for the Cypriot government in the negotiations."

Stressing that even if the budget deficit has increased in the past year or two, Flynn said "there is full determination that by the year 2000 the budget deficit will be at the Maastricht criteria level of 3% or less".

This, he said, was stressed by President Glafcos Clerides who reassured that the necessary adjustments will be taken to satisfy the Maastricht criteria.

Regarding inflation, Flynn said "it is expected to be around 2,5% this year while the level of public debt as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product is quite satisfactory."

The European Commissioner also described as "satisfactory" the unemployment rate which stands at 3,4%, although he stressed that "it has to be watched" because of demographic changes.

Flynn proposed that some adjustments have to be made regarding Value Added Tax (VAT), which in Cyprus is eight percent while the average in the EU is 15%.

"An adjustment will be necessary but it is not going to be undertaken overnight. It will be a gradual process", he added.

On the question of labour law, Flynn said it is necessary that there will be harmonisation of the Cyprus law to the European directives, adding that there is a draft law now ready on the issue.

He further said that the European plan for social action is well understood in Cyprus and he has a clear indication that all the outstanding matters will be catered for in the next few years before the accession finally takes place.

On the question of health and safety, Flynn said progress has been made as there is a new law in place here since 1997.

On his part, Moushouttas said that Flynn's visit takes place within the framework of a series of visits to other EU candidate members. He described the Commissioner's visit to Cyprus "a milestone in our course for EU accession."

CNA GG/EC/MM/1998

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2030:CYPPRESS:04

[04] Sir David - lecture to T/Cs

He noted that the whole activity of the past few months has been focused on the status of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides in the UN-led peace talks, saying that in many other cases in the world this did not prevent an outcome being reached.

He pointed out that the negotiating table is the only place where solutions will ever be found, noting that major differences have in many cases been resolved without first agreeing on the status of the parties.

The EU envoy, also Britain's Special Representative for Cyprus, delivered a lecture this evening on "Cyprus: The way ahead" to Turkish Cypriot entrepreneurs in the Turkish-occupied areas of the island.

He explained to them once again the benefits the Turkish Cypriot community would have from a potential entry of Cyprus in the EU and urged its participation in a joint team to negotiate the island's accession to the Union.

Sir David described the Cyprus problem as a "complex and intractable" and said the EU and Britain worked closely with others, especially the US, to back UN efforts for a solution and the representation of both sides in Cyprus-EU negotiations.

"Unfortunately, the first half of 1998 in the event turned out to be a discouraging time for those working to try to bring about a settlement to the Cyprus problem," he said.

He said it was frustrating that there was no resumption of the UN-led peace process, that at the start of Cyprus' accession talks in March a joint negotiating team was not represented and that tensions and armaments on the island were not lessened.

Noting that the UN peace process is stalled, he said this is "not because there is a disagreement over which are the substantive issues that need to be resolved" which would be part of the settlement.

"But no, the tragedy of Cyprus is that no-one is even talking about the substantive issues that must be resolved if a comprehensive solution to the problem is to be found," he said.

He said "the whole activity of the past few months has been focused on the status of the two parties in the UN talks," noting that the "bitter irony" in the world is that there are unresolved differences about the status of parties in such negotiations.

The EU envoy gave a list of problems where an outcome was even reached without this issue preventing negotiations.

Sir David said in some cases major differences and disputes were resolved "without first having an agreement as to the status of the parties." This "can be done without prejudicing the strongly held views of the parties" on each other's status, he added.

He said it would be foolish to underestimate the difficulty of resolving issues of substance, stressing that these would require "both Greek and Turkish Cypriots to make some hard choices" which can only be made at the negotiating table.

"They can only be made when the detailed arrangements of any settlement and for its implementation have been hammered out between equals at that same negotiating table. That is the case for moving on now to real negotiation without further delay or prevarication," Sir David said.

Noting this would require a major political effort by the leaders of the two communities, he said it is clear that without serious work in a "spirit of give and take" this cannot be achieved.

Sir David said there are important links between the issue of resuming the negotiations under UN auspices, Cyprus' EU application and the issue raised over the deployment of the S-300 Russian anti-aircraft missile system.

"...a resumption and pursuit of the UN process is in a sense the key to the successful handling of the other two", he said, noting that this is fully backed by the UN and the EU and "cannot be imposed from the outside."

He told his Turkish Cypriot audience on Cyprus' EU application "we face something of a paradox."

Explaining that although the overwhelming majority of the public opinion throughout the island support that EU membership is in Cyprus' interest, Sir David said the issue "has become the object of discord and dispute fully equal to that raised by other aspects of the Cyprus problem."

He clarified that the EU position is that "the preferred objective is to achieve the accession of a bizonal, bicommunal federal Cyprus to the EU...and we would like to see Turkish Cypriots fully associated with the accession process so that they can have a real say in all the matters under negotiation."

He reminded that President Glafcos Clerides' offer for T/C participation in a joint negotiating team "remains on the table" and pledged that the Austrian EU presidency "will attempt to take matters forward."

Sir David said he finds it "worrying that so much emphasis is given (by the T/Cs)...to what are seen as the problems and risks of EU membership and so little to its benefits."

Noting that accession of a re-united island would bring both political and economic benefits, he said "Turkish Cypriots would be equal partners in Cyprus' EU membership, getting a say in the development of the EU's future."

He said he had tried to set out the directions in which "we would wish to see both the UN and the EU processes moving in the period ahead."

Sir David said that events "in particular the tensions arising from the projected missile deployment, risk moving matters in quite the opposite direction."

He noted that EU members "would herald the need to make an extremely difficult decision some years down the road whether to accept or reject a divided island as a member."

Concluding, Sir David told his audience that it is up to the T/Cs themselves to "decide how best to proceed and how best to further and protect their interest", adding, "the choice is yours."

CNA AP/MM/1998

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