Green light for Cyprus’s accession, ‘cold shower’ on Euro-army issue
At the end of February, Aznar became the first president of the European Union to visit Cyprus, where he had talks with Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash. We asked him to give his impressions of the prospects arising from the direct talks (between Clerides and Denktash) on resolving the Cyprus problem that has divided the island since 1974. «Of itself, the fact that the leaders of the two sides are talking to each other directly is positive. Nevertheless, my impression is that there has not yet been the progress that one would have desired,» he replied. He does not feel, however, that a stalemate on the Cyprus issue could torpedo the process of EU expansion. «The EU made it clear at the Helsinki summit in 1999 that although it would like a positive outcome in the Cyprus issue, it will make the final decision on Cyprus’s entry to the EU irrespective of the outcome of the talks,» he said. Asked if this meant that the EU would automatically accept Cyprus in the first wave of enlargement even if no solution had been found, Aznar replied: «If (Cyprus) fulfills the criteria for all candidate states, its candidacy will be accepted when the time for decision-making comes.» However, along with NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson and European foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the Spanish prime minister did not leave much room for optimism over Greece’s demands regarding Turkey’s role in the Euro-army. «We favor a European security force that will complement but not compete with NATO. Unfortunately, however, at this time we cannot assume our responsibilities as the European Union, in Macedonia, as we are unable to reach minimum agreement on a European rapid deployment force because of Greece’s objections,» he explained. We asked Aznar if he planned to launch an initiative on the problem that had arisen over a British-US text, which is completely unacceptable to Greece, regarding Turkey’s participation in the Euroforce’s operations. He said he would be discussing the issue in the next few days with Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis and launched a «sincere and heartfelt appeal to the Greek government to show understanding.» In Aznar’s opinion the (British-US) Istanbul document is not a European Union document, therefore there can be no discussion about amending it. He emphasized that a European Union security mechanism was urgently needed in the light of the «historic» agreement between NATO and the Russian Federation to set up a joint council of the «Twenty» (NATO member states plus Russia) on European security. «If that cannot be done at once, the two sides should at least be divided, with international observers,» the prime minister said.
