PM sets sights on Cyprus wall
Attending the events in Germany to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Prime Minister George Papandreou yesterday called for the last wall still dividing a European city, Nicosia, to be brought down. «As Greeks and as Europeans, we can shout: ‘Tear down the last wall,’ the one that divides Cyprus into two,» he said. «There cannot be a Europe with walls and occupation armies. The Europe of freedom, a united Europe cannot tolerate this.» Papandreou raised this and several other issues in a brief meeting in Berlin with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Sources said that during the half-hour meeting, Papandreou explained to Clinton that his government is attempting to inject a new momentum into its foreign policy but that there are some set national positions on certain issues that have to be recognized. The Greek prime minister and foreign minister informed Clinton of the ongoing contact he has enjoyed with Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, underlining that Athens is ready to build on the initial contact between the two sides. A specific issue that was raised was that of the state of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, especially as Clinton recently met with Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios. Papandreou assured Clinton that Greece wants to play an active role in helping countries in the western Balkans join the European Union and suggested that a time line should be drawn up leading to their accession in 2014. However, the PASOK leader underlined that, in order to join the EU, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) will first have to resolve its name dispute with Greece. Papandreou said that Greece is not willing to back down on its position that FYROM has to settle on a composite name with a geographical determinant. On the Cyprus issue, the Greek premier said he backed the discussions between the island’s two communities and suggested that Turkey’s bid to join the EU should be linked to its obligations vis-a-vis Cyprus.
