Nicosia reacted angrily yesterday to Sunday’s comments by the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, according to which only a free Cyprus would join the union if reunification talks fail.

Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides said the decision on the question was not up to Solana. He said that “those who do decide” have assured Nicosia that the entire island will become a member of the 15-nation block.

In an interview with Greece’s Sunday Vima newspaper, Solana said that unless there is an agreement between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, “one part of Cyprus will have to join and the other will have to wait.” Nicosia sees this as recognition of the Turkish-occupied north as a legal state entity.

Cypriot government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou dismissed the EU foreign policy chief’s remarks as “erroneous, legally baseless and contradictory to the EU’s own decisions.”

Foreign Minister Ioannis Cassoulides said he would seek to discuss the question with Solana during the ongoing Euro-Mediterranean talks in Valencia, Spain.