EU chiefs push Cyprus plan
The European Union’s leaders yesterday urged Turkish Cypriots to reconsider their rejection of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s plan to reunite Cyprus. «The European Council regrets that the efforts of the United Nations’ secretary-general to find a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem have failed,» the 15 leaders said in their final conclusions at the end of their two-day Spring Summit in Brussels. «The EU strongly supports the continuation of the secretary-general’s mission of good offices and of negotiations on the basis of his proposals,» the Council said. «It urges all parties concerned to spare no effort toward a just, viable and functional settlement and, in particular, the Turkish-Cypriot leadership to reconsider its position.» The European Council also reaffirmed its decisions made at Copenhagen with regard to Cyprus’s accession to the EU. With no deal having been signed, only Greek Cypriots will sign an accession treaty with the EU on April 16.
